A framework for establishing E-health systems in Kenya

Abstract

Like any other Country in the world, Kenya is embracing ICT in its effort to improve service delivery to its citizens. In order to improve healthcare delivery, increase accountability, increase staff productivity, reduce cost and service delivery time, improve planning and decision making, the Ministry of Health has faced some challenges. The purpose of this study was to identify the various challenges in the implementation of ehealth in the ministry of Health and offer some recommendations. In this study based on literature review, concepts of health, health information systems, e-health, e-readiness models and an enterprise architectureframework were discussed. Various comparative country studies were also discussed and, and e-health readiness model was proposed. This study was conducted in the Ministry of Health which is the largest public health provider in Kenya. The Research design used was descriptive. The target population was drawn from staff of the Ministry of Health, Headquarters Nairobi. The study population comprised of 140 staff with a sample size of 100 Staff members. Based on the proposed e-readiness model, a questionnaire was provided and distributed among staff in the ministry of health who were familiar with ICT and internet in the Directorates of Public Health and Medical Services. After the analysis the main challenges were leT infrastructure, Lack of ICT Skills, Social and Cultural, Legal and security. With regard to e-readiness, e-health implementation framework was proposed and an e-health enterprise architecture framework based on enterprise architecture was proposed.