Digital Health Transformation in Africa: A Systematic Review

Jackeline Ferreira Romio, UNFPA
Dereje Ferede, Addis Ababa University

Objectives: It is evident that the Covid-19 pandemic brought many effects worldwide to health systems. An expressive aspect was the acceleration of the use of technology and the digitalization of healthcare and services. This article analyzes the process of digital transformation of health in Africa. Methods. A bibliographic search was carried out in the electronic databases of PubMed, these data were treated and then a text analysis was performed with RStudio, evaluating the contents of the titles and abstracts of the articles located. Results. 397 articles were found using the search words “Digital Health” and “Africa”, all of which were considered for the first part of the analysis. Most of the articles were written after 2020. Conclusions. This systematic review highlights that COVID 19 impacted interests in digital health topics and must be taken into account by health professionals, institutions, and policymakers to ensure that this opportunity is not missed.