The Future of Health Data Workshop, Kampala, Uganda: January 2024
January 2025 by Ms. Orla Mantle
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About the Author: Ms. Orla Mantle Ms. Orla Mantle is a clinical medical student at King's College London and research student with the NIHR GHRG ABSI. |
In January 2024, a research team from ABSI and the International Health Systems Group at the University of Cambridge co-facilitated a community engagement workshop in Kampala, Uganda. This event was a crucial step in our ongoing research on health data management and technology adoption in low-resource settings.
The Global Context of Digital Health
As healthcare becomes increasingly digitised, vast amounts of data are being generated about populations and individuals. This information has the potential to revolutionise healthcare technology and medicine. However, it also raises important questions about data safety, confidentiality, and equitable access to technology-driven healthcare solutions.
Why Uganda?
Uganda, with its unique healthcare challenges and growing digital landscape, provides valuable insights for our research. Through ongoing collaborations with the Uganda-UK Health Alliance (UUKHA) and local partners, we aimed to understand healthcare data management and mobile technology use in the country.
The Workshop
Our workshop took place at Mulago National Referral Hospital, bringing together 16 participants including medical students, allied health professionals, and specialty doctors. The event focused on two main topics:
- Mobile phone usage and cellular network accessibility across Uganda
- Attitudes towards health data storage and sharing
Key Insights
Mobile Technology in Uganda
Mobile phone ownership in Uganda is more nuanced than we initially thought:
- Phone ownership varies greatly based on geography, socioeconomic status, and age
- Many families share a single device or use basic feature phones
- There's a practice of frequent SIM card swapping to manage costs and network coverage
These findings have important implications for any health interventions relying on mobile technology, particularly in ensuring equitable access to digital health solutions.
Health Data Management
Our discussions revealed several challenges in the current health data landscape:
- Limited infrastructure for recording and managing electronic health records
- Fragmented systems between specialties and hospitals
- Patients often carry their own paper medical records
There's a clear need for improved policies, infrastructure, and state support to unify electronic health data systems. This need must be balanced with concerns about data safety and confidentiality.
Looking Ahead: Co-Creating Solutions for Uganda
We've learned that while technology holds great potential for improving healthcare delivery in Uganda, solutions must be carefully co-created to fit the local context. Importantly, medical professionals, patients, and the public need to be at the centre of discussions about digital health, ensuring that evolving technologies address real needs and concerns.
Our next steps include:
- Collaboratively exploring ways to address infrastructure gaps in health data management
- Investigating how to effectively leverage mobile technology, considering the unique usage patterns we observed
- Ensuring that our approach addresses concerns about data safety, confidentiality, and equitable access
We're grateful to our academic partners and all participants who shared their perspectives. This workshop was made possible through our partnership with the Uganda-UK Health Alliance (UUKHA) and was supported by the Wellcome Trust and InciSion Uganda.
