Defining Electronic Health Technologies and Their Benefits for Global Health Program Managers

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) have enabled the collection, synthesis, and reporting of vast amounts of health data. Mobile phones, portable and handheld computers, Internet and cloud-based applications, open source software, and data warehouses are among the key ICT tools utilized in the health sector. Crowdsourcing, a distributed problem-solving and production model, has been increasingly applied in global health. This approach leverages the collective intelligence of online communities to accomplish specific tasks. Crowdsourcing has been used in various contexts, including knowledge discovery and management, distributed human intelligence tasking, broadcast search, and peer-vetted creative production. In the health domain, crowdsourcing has been employed to facilitate the management of health programs globally. One example is the use of crowdsourcing to track and respond to ethnic violence in Kenya. The Ushahidi website, developed in 2008, collected email and text messages and tweets from citizens reporting eyewitness accounts of violence. The team verified this information and uploaded it on Google Maps, showing citizens safe and dangerous areas in Nairobi. Crowdsourcing has also been used to gather information on the delivery of health services in Kenya. The Huduma platform, an extension of the Ushahidi platform, solicits crowdsourced data on education, governance, health, infrastructure, water, and justice. Users can send texts, email, or tweets to comment on the delivery of health services in their area. This interactive tool serves as a clearinghouse for this data, with a dashboard that makes it possible to compare one district with another. The benefits of crowdsourcing in global health are numerous. It enables the rapid collection and analysis of data, facilitating more-informed decision-making. Crowdsourcing also reduces the time it takes to deliver reports on health issues, such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. In Liberia, crowdsourcing reduced the time to deliver reports on Ebola cases to the health ministry from five days to instantly. Electronic health technologies, including crowdsourcing, have the potential to revolutionize the global health sector's response to pressing health issues in low- and middle-income countries. By leveraging the collective intelligence of online communities, crowdsourcing can facilitate the management of health programs globally, enabling more-informed decision-making and improved health outcomes. The use of crowdsourcing in global health is not limited to tracking and responding to health issues. It has also been employed to develop new health technologies and solutions. For example, crowdsourcing has been used to develop new designs for sanitation systems in the developing world. This approach enables the rapid collection and analysis of data, facilitating the development of innovative solutions to pressing health issues.