Health Informatics in Developing Countries: Systematic Review of Reviews Contribution of the IMIA Working Group Health Informatics for Development

Summary

Objectives: An evidence-base is important for medicine and health informatics. Despite numerous publications showing the benefits of health informatics, the emergence of health information systems in developing countries has been slower than expected. The aim of this paper is to identify systematic reviews on the domain of health informatics in developing countries, and classify the different types of applications covered.

Methods: A systematic review of reviews was conducted. The literature search spanned the time period between 2000 and 2012 and included PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane Systematic Reviews, LILACS, and Google Scholar. The search term was ‘systematic reviews of health informatics in developing countries’, and transparent and systematic procedures were applied to limit bias at all stages.

Results: Of the 982 identified articles, only 10 met the inclusion criteria and one more article was added in a second manual search, resulting in a total of 11 systematic reviews for the analysis.

Conclusions: Although it was difficult to find high quality resources on the selected domain, the best evidence available allowed us to generate this report and create an incipient review of the state of the art in health informatics in the developing countries. More studies will be needed to optimize the results.

 

MissingLinkText

Keywords

Medical Informatics - developing countries - evidence-based medicine

 

 

MissingLinkText

• References

• 1 Ammenwerth E. Evidence Based Health Informatics. In: Hovenga E. editor. Health informatics — an overview. Washington, DC: IOS Press; 2010. p. 427-34.
• 2 Bakken S. An informatics infrastructure is essential for evidence-based practice. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2001; May-Jun 8 (3) 199-201.
• 3 Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't. BMJ 1996; Jan 13 312 (7023) 71-2.
• 4 Rigby M. Evaluation: 16 powerful reasons why not to do it--and 6 over-riding imperatives. Stud Health Technol Inform 2001; 84 (Pt 2) 1198-202.
• 5 Ammenwerth E, de Keizer N. A viewpoint on evidence-based health informatics, based on a pilot survey on evaluation studies in health care informatics. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2007; May-Jun 14 (3) 368-71.
• 6 Hebert RJ. Economics of health informatics in developing countries. Stud Health Technol Inform 2011; 164: 162-7.
• 7 Lucas H. Information and communications technology for future health systems in developing countries. Soc Sci Med 2008; May 66 (10) 2122-32.
• 8 Ammenwerth E, Schnell-Inderst P, Siebert U. Vision and challenges of Evidence-Based Health Informatics: a case study of a CPOE meta-analysis. Int J Med Inform 2010; Apr 79 (4) e83-8.
• 9 Tomasi E, Facchini LA, Maia MF. Health information technology in primary health care in developing countries: a literature review. Bull World Health Organ 2004; Nov 82 (11) 867-74.
• 10 Williams F, Boren SA. The role of the electronic medical record (EMR) in care delivery development in developing countries: a systematic review. Inform Prim Care 2008; 16 (2) 139-45.
• 11 Blaya JA, Fraser HS, Holt B. E-health technologies show promise in developing countries. Health Aff (Millwood) 2010; Feb 29 (2) 244-51.
• 12 Millard PS, Bru J, Berger CA. Open-source point-of-care electronic medical records for use in resource-limited settings: systematic review and questionnaire surveys. BMJ Open. 2012 2. (4).
• 13 Pakenham-Walsh N, Bukachi F. Information needs of health care workers in developing countries: a literature review with a focus on Africa. Hum Resour Health 2009; 7: 30.
• 14 Ali MK, Shah S, Tandon N. Review of electronic decision-support tools for diabetes care: a viable option for low- and middle-income countries?. J Diabetes Sci Technol 2011; May 5 (3) 553-70.
• 15 Oluoch T, Santas X, Kwaro D, Were M, Biondich P, Bailey C. et al. The effect of electronic medical record-based clinical decision support on HIV care in resource-constrained settings: a systematic review. Int J Med Inform 2012; Oct 81 (10) e83-92.
• 16 Wootton R. Telemedicine and developing countries-successful implementation will require a shared approach. J Telemed Telecare 2001; 7 Suppl 1 1-6.
• 17 Rey-Moreno C, Reigadas JS, Villalba EE, Vinagre JJ, Fernandez AM. A systematic review of telemedicine projects in Colombia. J Telemed Telecare 2010; 16 (3) 114-9.
• 18 Deglise C, Suggs LS, Odermatt P. SMS for disease control in developing countries: a systematic review of mobile health applications. J Telemed Telecare. 2012; 18 (5) 273-81.
• 19 Gurman TA, Rubin SE, Roess AA. Effectiveness of mHealth behavior change communication interventions in developing countries: a systematic review of the literature. J Health Commun 2012; 17 Suppl 1 82-104.
• 20 Jean-Francois G, Laetitia R, Stefan D. Is the coverage of google scholar enough to be used alone for systematic reviews. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2013; Jan 9 13 (1) 7.
• 21 Nourbakhsh E, Nugent R, Wang H, Cevik C, Nugent K. Medical literature searches: a comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar. Health Info Libr J 2012; Sep 29 (3) 214-22.
• 22 Tan K, Dear PR, Newell SJ. Clinical decision support systems for neonatal care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 (2) CD004211.
• 23 Durieux P, Trinquart L, Colombet I, Nies J, Walton R, Rajeswaran A. et al. Computerized advice on drug dosage to improve prescribing practice. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 (3) CD002894.
• 24 Piette JD, Lun KC, Moura Jr. LA, Fraser HS, Mechael PN, Powell J. et al. Impacts of e-health on the outcomes of care in low- and middle-income countries: where do we go from here?. Bull World Health Organ 2012; May 1 90 (5) 365-72.
• 25 Marcelo A, Adejumo A, Luna D. Health Informatics for Development: a Three-pronged Strategy of Partnerships, Standards, and Mobile Health. Contribution of the IMIA Working Group on Health Informatics for Development. Yearb Med Inform 2011; 6 (1) 96-101.
• 26 Bukachi F, Pakenham-Walsh N. Information technology for health in developing countries. Chest 2007; Nov 132 (5) 1624-30.
• 27 Fraser HS, Blaya J. Implementing medical information systems in developing countries, what works and what doesn't. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2010; 232-6.
• 28 World Health Organization. Country health information systems: a review of the current situation and trends. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2012
• 29 Hammond WE, Bailey C, Boucher P, Spohr M, Whitaker P. Connecting information to improve health. Health Aff (Millwood) 2010; eb 29 (2) 284-8.
• 30 Gordon AN, Hinson RE. Towards a sustainable framework for computer based health information systems (CHIS) for least developed countries (LDCs). Int J Health Care Qual Assur 2007; 20 (6) 532-44.
• 31 Marcelo AB. Health information systems: a survey of frameworks for developing countries. Yearb Med Inform 2010; 25-9.
• 32 Hersh W, Margolis A, Quiros F, Otero P. Building a health informatics workforce in developing countries. Health Aff (Millwood) 2010; Feb 29 (2) 274-7.
• 33 Tierney WM, Kanter AS, Fraser HS, Bailey C. A toolkit for e-health partnerships in low-income nations. Health Aff (Millwood) 2010; Feb 29 (2) 268-73.