Telehealth as a monitoring tool for communicable diseases in the Southern African Development Community
The purpose of the consultancy was to assess the feasibility of establishing a Telehealth system as a surveillance tool for communicable diseases including HIV and AIDS, Malaria and TB in the SADC region.
Services provided:
- Assessed the extent to which Telehealth is currently being used as a surveillance and information sharing tool in SADC Member States;
- Explored the potential and feasibility of Telehealth as a surveillance and information tool in the SADC region;
- Assessed the state of telecommunications infrastructure in terms of its readiness to accommodate Telehealth services;
- Identified the equipment currently available in MS that can be used for the establishment of a fully functional Telehealth system for disease surveillance;
- Defined specifications for proposed Telehealth equipment;
- Proposed how the Telehealth system can be used as an early warning system for epidemic out breaks;
- Assessed the human resource requirements for supporting a fully functional Telehealth system in the SADC region; and
- Drafted a costed list of the equipment required for the establishment of a fully functional Telehealth system in the SADC region.