Formulation of a National e-Health Strategy Development Framework for Pakistan

Abstract

Health systems across developing and developed countries face constant and difficult challenges in coping with an ever increasing demand for health care. At the same time, the world has witnessed an ever increasing influence of (ICT) in health care delivery. This has become known as ‘e-health’ and is broadly composed of four domains such as telehealth, health informatics, e-Learning and e-Commerce. e-Health in spite of its usefulness in isolated settings across the globe, still lacks sustainable integration into existing health systems for lack of ‘thoughtful strategy’. This thesis establishes an e-Health Strategy Development Framework (e-HSDF). The methodology includes literature review to identify tools for conceptual framework along with synthesis of evidence to formulate the complete the e-HSDF. Pakistan was used as an example for hypothetical application of the e-HSDF. The completion of the framework contributes to the field of e-health implementation by providing a structured, systematic and evidence-based tool.