The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean
Objective. To use a newly developed framework to assess the contribution that eHealth makes to closing gaps in primary health care (PHC) and to providing person-centered, integrated PHC services in Latin America and the Caribbean. Methods. The new assessment model for eHealth-enabled primary health...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7c560e5be308426680b1c1928fc63087 2023-05-15T15:15:53+02:00 The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean Maria Lima-Toivanen Rubens Martins Pereira 2018-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 https://doaj.org/article/7c560e5be308426680b1c1928fc63087 EN ES PT eng spa por Pan American Health Organization http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/49732 https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-5348 1020-4989 1680-5348 doi:10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 https://doaj.org/article/7c560e5be308426680b1c1928fc63087 Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 42, Pp 1-11 (2018) Health information systems primary health care Latin America Argentina Brazil Costa Rica Dominican Republic Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 2022-12-31T12:31:01Z Objective. To use a newly developed framework to assess the contribution that eHealth makes to closing gaps in primary health care (PHC) and to providing person-centered, integrated PHC services in Latin America and the Caribbean. Methods. The new assessment model for eHealth-enabled primary health care (ePHC) is called the ePHC Assessment Framework. It is based on the National eHealth Strategy Toolkit developed by the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunications Union in 2012, and the Alberta Health Primary Health Care Evaluation Framework. To validate the ePHC Assessment Framework, a pilot study was conducted in 2017 in four locations: the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the countries of Brazil, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. Results. The ePHC Assessment Framework was successfully used to evaluate the building blocks of a primary health care–oriented approach to eHealth and the eHealth-enabled enhancements for management of chronic conditions needed to improve prevention and management at PHC centers in the studied locations. The study found that Brazil, Costa Rica, and Buenos Aires are clearly engaged in eHealth initiatives as part of the transformation of PHC to provide person-centered, high-quality services. As for the Dominican Republic, there was not enough evidence to verify the contribution of eHealth in improving PHC in the country. Conclusions. It is clear that eHealth helps improve the quality and effectiveness of the prevention and management of chronic conditions at the PHC level. To improve the foundations of ePHC, policymakers should ensure that their national eHealth strategies explicitly identify and establish the opportunities for eHealth to enable an effective PHC system to provide person-centered, integrated, high-quality services. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Argentina Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública 42 1 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Spanish Portuguese |
topic |
Health information systems primary health care Latin America Argentina Brazil Costa Rica Dominican Republic Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Health information systems primary health care Latin America Argentina Brazil Costa Rica Dominican Republic Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Maria Lima-Toivanen Rubens Martins Pereira The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
topic_facet |
Health information systems primary health care Latin America Argentina Brazil Costa Rica Dominican Republic Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Objective. To use a newly developed framework to assess the contribution that eHealth makes to closing gaps in primary health care (PHC) and to providing person-centered, integrated PHC services in Latin America and the Caribbean. Methods. The new assessment model for eHealth-enabled primary health care (ePHC) is called the ePHC Assessment Framework. It is based on the National eHealth Strategy Toolkit developed by the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunications Union in 2012, and the Alberta Health Primary Health Care Evaluation Framework. To validate the ePHC Assessment Framework, a pilot study was conducted in 2017 in four locations: the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the countries of Brazil, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. Results. The ePHC Assessment Framework was successfully used to evaluate the building blocks of a primary health care–oriented approach to eHealth and the eHealth-enabled enhancements for management of chronic conditions needed to improve prevention and management at PHC centers in the studied locations. The study found that Brazil, Costa Rica, and Buenos Aires are clearly engaged in eHealth initiatives as part of the transformation of PHC to provide person-centered, high-quality services. As for the Dominican Republic, there was not enough evidence to verify the contribution of eHealth in improving PHC in the country. Conclusions. It is clear that eHealth helps improve the quality and effectiveness of the prevention and management of chronic conditions at the PHC level. To improve the foundations of ePHC, policymakers should ensure that their national eHealth strategies explicitly identify and establish the opportunities for eHealth to enable an effective PHC system to provide person-centered, integrated, high-quality services. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Maria Lima-Toivanen Rubens Martins Pereira |
author_facet |
Maria Lima-Toivanen Rubens Martins Pereira |
author_sort |
Maria Lima-Toivanen |
title |
The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
title_short |
The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
title_full |
The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
title_fullStr |
The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
title_full_unstemmed |
The contribution of eHealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean |
title_sort |
contribution of ehealth in closing gaps in primary health care in selected countries of latin america and the caribbean |
publisher |
Pan American Health Organization |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 https://doaj.org/article/7c560e5be308426680b1c1928fc63087 |
geographic |
Arctic Argentina |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Argentina |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 42, Pp 1-11 (2018) |
op_relation |
http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/49732 https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-5348 1020-4989 1680-5348 doi:10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 https://doaj.org/article/7c560e5be308426680b1c1928fc63087 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.188 |
container_title |
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública |
container_volume |
42 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
11 |
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1766346218919690240 |