E-health Policies in the Ethiopian Policy and Strategy Documents: Content Analysis
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Date
2013-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: E-health may play a major role to improve the quality, efficiency and access of health care services. However, there are also numerous factors that affect the successful deployment of E-health including political commitment, lack of collaboration, lack of standards and interoperability, and lack of funds. So, successful implementation of E-health is largely depends on clearly defined E-health policy and strategy that can address all these challenges. Objectives: The overall objective of this thesis was ―to analyze the content of E-health policies in ICT and E-health policy and strategy documents of Ethiopia‖. Methods: the research method chosen for this study was Qualitative content analysis. Qualitative data were collected by using literature review and document analysis. Three E-health policy documents issued by government were included in the study. A hybrid inductive and deductive content analysis was used to provide an in depth analysis on the selected documents. Results: After I conducted the literature review, new E-health policy frame work was developed for deductive analysis. The result show limited participation of non –governmental entities in the development of policy documents. Policy issues like human resource, infrastructure, and governance were described in detailed. Policy issues like liability, reimbursement, and private funding are not mentioned by the policy documents. Conclusion and Recommendation: the finding suggests that, the national E-health policy should be developed based on strategic framework in order to include all the relevant E-health policy issues and to ensure successful implementation of E-health in Ethiopia.
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E-health Policies in the Ethiopian Policy