Description of Session
With the current global technological advancements, electronic HIS are essential components of health data processing, sharing and use. In recent years, Ethiopia has seen proliferation of eHealth applications developed and introduced by different stakeholders to support the information needs for health service delivery at different levels. Thus far, various desktop, web, and mobile applications have been developed and implemented by the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), other government agencies, implementing partners, universities, and private health care providers. The applications range from patient/client registry to data aggregation and analysis platforms. The applications often vary in their purpose, users, implementation approach, data flow, the technology they use, and their platform. Since most of the eHealth applications were not registered officially with the FMOH, it has been difficult to have a precise idea on the number of apps, the number and type of users, areas of implementation and effectiveness. Moreover, it has been difficult to propose interoperability standards for the planned eHealth Architecture (eHA). This session will present the sought-after solution in response to the challenges existed. Particularly the findings of apps inventory of the currently available eHealth applications as well as the development, implementation, and eventually support mechanisms for these applications will be presented. Detailed evaluation of the apps in light of the implementation sites, data sharing features, financing/sustainability mechanisms, licensing, technologies (platforms, hosting strategies, standards, data exchange mechanisms – APIs, and others) will be presented to the audience. The plan for alignment of the apps towards the Information Revolution priority interventions will also be clarified – and the potential areas of expansion for the assessment will be indicated. The lessons from the subsequent step, publication of the apps inventory results in the WHO Digital Health Atlas (WHO-DHA), and its implications to the envisaged eHA will also be shared.
