Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review
BackgroundIn recent times, digital technologies in health care have been well recognized in Nepal. It is crucial to understand what is works well and areas that need improvements in the digital health ecosystem. This rapid review was carried out to provide an overview of Nepal's challenges and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Digital Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2022.861019/full |
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| author | Rojina Parajuli Dipak Bohara Malati KC Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Sabuj Kanti Mistry Sabuj Kanti Mistry Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav |
| author_facet | Rojina Parajuli Dipak Bohara Malati KC Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Sabuj Kanti Mistry Sabuj Kanti Mistry Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav |
| author_sort | Rojina Parajuli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundIn recent times, digital technologies in health care have been well recognized in Nepal. It is crucial to understand what is works well and areas that need improvements in the digital health ecosystem. This rapid review was carried out to provide an overview of Nepal's challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions.MethodsThis study is reported according to PRISMA guidelines and used telehealth, telemedicine, e-health, mobile health, digital health, implementation, opportunities, challenges and Nepal as key search terms to identify primary studies published between 1 January 2010 and 30 December 2021 in four databases, namely PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and CINAHL. Initially, identified studies were screened against predetermined selection criteria, and data were extracted, and the findings were narratively synthesized.ResultThe review identified various challenges, opportunities, and benefits of implementing digital health initiatives in Nepal. The most expressed challenge was inadequate technical facilities (lack of electricity and internet) and rugged geographical distribution, which makes transportation difficult in hilly and mountain areas. Shortage of skilled workforce and supportive policies were also notable challenges documented. Meanwhile, major opportunities identified were education and training of the students and health practitioners and increasing awareness among the general population.ConclusionThis review identified various factors associated with the successful implementation of digital health initiatives in Nepal. Our findings may guide the formulation of digital health policy and interventions to improve mass health outcomes using digital health services. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:58:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7dd3af824ce7484aa205411366320975 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-253X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:58:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-7dd3af824ce7484aa2054113663209752022-12-22T03:09:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Digital Health2673-253X2022-08-01410.3389/fdgth.2022.861019861019Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid reviewRojina Parajuli0Dipak Bohara1Malati KC2Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan3Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan4Sabuj Kanti Mistry5Sabuj Kanti Mistry6Uday Narayan Yadav7Uday Narayan Yadav8Uday Narayan Yadav9Department of Public Health, Torrens University, Sydney, AustraliaDepartment of Public Health, Torrens University, Sydney, AustraliaDepartment of Public Health, Torrens University, Sydney, AustraliaDepartment of Public Health, Torrens University, Sydney, AustraliaMenzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Primary Health Care and Equity, Faculty of Medicine,, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, AustraliaDepartment of Public Health, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, BangladeshDepartment of Public Health, Torrens University, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Primary Health Care and Equity, Faculty of Medicine,, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, AustraliaNational Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, ACT, Canberra, AustraliaBackgroundIn recent times, digital technologies in health care have been well recognized in Nepal. It is crucial to understand what is works well and areas that need improvements in the digital health ecosystem. This rapid review was carried out to provide an overview of Nepal's challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions.MethodsThis study is reported according to PRISMA guidelines and used telehealth, telemedicine, e-health, mobile health, digital health, implementation, opportunities, challenges and Nepal as key search terms to identify primary studies published between 1 January 2010 and 30 December 2021 in four databases, namely PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and CINAHL. Initially, identified studies were screened against predetermined selection criteria, and data were extracted, and the findings were narratively synthesized.ResultThe review identified various challenges, opportunities, and benefits of implementing digital health initiatives in Nepal. The most expressed challenge was inadequate technical facilities (lack of electricity and internet) and rugged geographical distribution, which makes transportation difficult in hilly and mountain areas. Shortage of skilled workforce and supportive policies were also notable challenges documented. Meanwhile, major opportunities identified were education and training of the students and health practitioners and increasing awareness among the general population.ConclusionThis review identified various factors associated with the successful implementation of digital health initiatives in Nepal. Our findings may guide the formulation of digital health policy and interventions to improve mass health outcomes using digital health services.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2022.861019/fullchallengesdigital healthimplementationopportunitiestelemedicinetelehealth |
| spellingShingle | Rojina Parajuli Dipak Bohara Malati KC Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Selvanaayagam Shanmuganathan Sabuj Kanti Mistry Sabuj Kanti Mistry Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav Uday Narayan Yadav Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review Frontiers in Digital Health challenges digital health implementation opportunities telemedicine telehealth |
| title | Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review |
| title_full | Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review |
| title_short | Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review |
| title_sort | challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in nepal a rapid review |
| topic | challenges digital health implementation opportunities telemedicine telehealth |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2022.861019/full |
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