Digital health interventions for managing medication and healthcare service delivery by health professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Résumé fourni par la source

The integration of electronic devices and programs that employ digital technology interventions for the distribution of medications, tracking medications and the provision of healthcare worldwide has been facilitated by information technologies. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become a crucial testing ground for digital health interventions in settings with limited resources. The study aimed at mapping evidence on the use of digital health interventions for managing medication and healthcare service delivery by health professionals in SSA. This scoping review was conducted under the guidance of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and Levac et al. 2010 recommendations, and updated guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute. A thorough search was conducted in the following academic databases: PubMed, EBSCOhost via MEDLINE with full text, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, Web of Science and Google Scholar. In addition to the electronic resources, references on the included studies were also searched manually. The search for relevant published articles was from 2015 to 2025 to help report on current findings on digital health interventions. Two authors independently screened articles at both abstract and full-text screening stages and performed data extraction, with discrepancies resolved through discussions or a third author. Descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis were used to report the findings. After screening 2,104 potentially eligible articles across the different electronic databases, 30 studies were included for data extraction and analysis. Of the 30 articles, ten were quantitative studies, six were qualitative studies and two were mixed-method studies. There was one cohort study, one observational study, two scoping reviews, three systematic reviews, three policy reviews and one literature review. All 30 articles reported evidence on the use of digital health interventions for managing medications and healthcare service delivery. The study found that there is limited evidence on the use of digital health interventions for managing medications of HIV, TB, diabetes and hypertension and improving healthcare service delivery in SSA. This review provides a comprehensive overview of research evidence on the use of digital health interventions for managing medications and healthcare service delivery in SSA. It underscores the urgent need for further primary studies on the use of digital health interventions in managing medications and promoting healthcare service delivery.

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