Agbeyangi Abayomi O, Lukose Jose M
Department of Business and Application Development, Walter Sisulu University, East London 5200, South Africa.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Mar 29;13(7):762. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13070762.
Telemedicine has emerged as a transformative solution to healthcare access challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa, where many populations remain underserved. This systematic review focuses on the adoption, implementation, and technological prospects of telemedicine in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, three countries leading the region in healthcare innovations. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, guided by PRISMA protocols, identified 567 studies published between 2014 and 2024, of which 53 met the inclusion criteria with a focus on telemedicine adoption, implementation, and technological prospects in the selected countries. A structured critical appraisal was used to assess potential biases in the included studies' design, selection criteria, and reporting, while findings were thematically analysed to provide actionable and comparative insights. The findings reveal that South Africa has the highest adoption rate, focusing on specialist teleconsultations, chronic disease management, and mental health services. Kenya demonstrates strong mHealth integration and advanced mobile applications, particularly in maternal health, HIV care, and sexual and reproductive health. While facing infrastructural and regulatory constraints, Nigeria is advancing innovations for remote diagnosis and teleconsultation. By synthesising evidence from peer-reviewed literature, the review identifies adoption trends, enabling factors, and opportunities for scaling telemedicine in these contexts. Despite these advancements, challenges persist, including regulatory gaps, digital literacy limitations, and infrastructure constraints. Addressing these barriers requires targeted investments in broadband expansion, policy harmonisation, and healthcare workforce training to optimise telemedicine's impact and ensure its sustainability as a healthcare delivery model in Sub-Saharan Africa.
远程医疗已成为解决撒哈拉以南非洲地区医疗服务可及性挑战的变革性解决方案，该地区许多人口仍未得到充分服务。本系统综述聚焦于南非、肯尼亚和尼日利亚这三个引领该地区医疗创新的国家远程医疗的采用、实施及技术前景。在PRISMA协议的指导下，对PubMed、Scopus和科学网进行系统检索，共识别出2014年至2024年间发表的567项研究，其中53项符合纳入标准，重点关注所选国家远程医疗的采用、实施及技术前景。采用结构化批判性评估来评估纳入研究在设计、选择标准和报告方面的潜在偏差，同时对研究结果进行主题分析，以提供可操作的比较性见解。研究结果显示，南非的采用率最高，重点在于专科远程会诊、慢性病管理和心理健康服务。肯尼亚展现出强大的移动医疗整合能力及先进的移动应用，尤其是在孕产妇健康、艾滋病毒护理以及性健康和生殖健康方面。尽管面临基础设施和监管方面的限制，尼日利亚仍在推进远程诊断和远程会诊方面的创新。通过综合同行评审文献中的证据，该综述确定了采用趋势、促成因素以及在这些背景下扩大远程医疗规模的机会。尽管取得了这些进展，但挑战依然存在，包括监管空白、数字素养限制和基础设施约束。应对这些障碍需要有针对性地投资于宽带扩展、政策协调以及医疗劳动力培训，以优化远程医疗的影响，并确保其作为撒哈拉以南非洲地区医疗服务提供模式的可持续性。
