Laurent Elder
Programme Leader
PAN Asia Networking
International Development Research Centre

Michael Clarke
Director
ICT4D Program Area
International Development Research Centre


Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) have made it easier to achieve remote clinical consultations, distance health education, and medical research, particularly in developing countries where resources are limited. For decades, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has focused both on improving the health of people in these countries and on fostering the general use of ICTs for development. It is only natural, therefore, that IDRC supports research on “e-health,” a broad term encompassing health informatics, public health, and telemedicine.

At the GKP Event on the Future: Third Global Knowledge Conference (GK3), IDRC hosts a panel discussion that includes several of its partners in this area of research. This group will tackle questions such as:

• What are the most appropriate ICT solutions for resolving health-related problems in developing countries?
• What evidence is there of the benefits of ICT-enabled health solutions in these countries?
• What are the most appropriate means of using ICTs to improve health systems?
• What is the experience with low-cost and ubiquitous ICT tools for resolving health problems?

Research in progress

Clearly, understanding local capabilities and needs is crucial to the success of e-health initiatives. Through its large-scale research programmes in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, IDRC seeks to achieve this understanding.

Currently, for example, IDRC supports its partner AfriAfya’s wide-scale survey in Eastern and Southern Africa on the role of ICTs in addressing the health and development challenges of HIV/AIDS. This investigation has found that, while conventional media remain the most widely used channels in obtaining health information, the number of people using mobiles for this purpose has increased in tandem with their general level of access to mobile telephony and the Internet. Illiteracy and “localization issues” are important barriers to the adoption of ICTs, and one of the most effective uses of ICTs in fighting HIV/AIDS is by way of mobile phones and SMS (text messaging).

Other studies confirm that the rapid expansion of mobile telephony in Africa has opened new opportunities for using ICTs to deliver health care. Lately we have seen low bandwidth applications — such as demographic surveillance of disease incidence in Uganda — that exploit mobile phones or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to connect via mobile networks. PDAs and smartphones also enjoy the advantages of physical robustness, affordability, and the ability to be recharged by solar power.

In Asia, where mobile phones are even more pervasive than in Africa, the potential for health applications is significant. IDRC-supported studies suggest that these devices can make a difference in demographic surveillance and in medical compliance. For example, mobiles make it easier to prevent or control pandemics, such as SARS or avian flu, by capturing data about outbreaks in remote districts and forwarding this information to experts immediately.

Research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean has also highlighted the need for interoperability standards in health information systems so that different health applications can be scaled up and replicated. Understanding the role of health applications based on open source, as well as open standards, is a key to ensuring that the benefits of these applications are shared widely.


What comes next

E-health solutions can have real, immediate benefits. Since significant threats to human health such as infectious pandemics and natural disasters respect no political boundaries, these global initiatives carry a sense of urgency. Having learned from the successes and failures of early telemedicine-based interventions, IDRC is approaching new e-health research projects in a more comprehensive way that addresses the needs of different actors.

The fundamental issue that pervades the case histories of failed health ICT projects is a lack of focus on the patient, and this problem must be addressed. By continually verifying clear links between the targeted intervention and the wellbeing of patients, the likelihood of a successful project will be substantially improved.

In IDRC’s view, therefore, what is now needed is the development of a rigorous research methodology that is relevant and applicable to the context of developing nations. Such a methodology must be based on an applied modality, where the fundamentals of the work address real and significant issues of human health as they affect the development process.


Join Laurent Elder and Michael Clarke for a firsthand insight into the International Development Research Centre's findings on the impact of ICT in healthcare services in Africa, Asia and LAC - the Third Global Knowledge Conference session on "Health Outcomes: The Role of ICT Applications, Standards and Practices ".