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Review
. 2023 May 29:9:20552076231178420.
doi: 10.1177/20552076231178420. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

mHealth in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe: Context of current health, healthcare status, and demographic structure

Genet Tadese Aboye  1   2 , Martijn Vande Walle  1 , Gizeaddis Lamesgin Simegn  2 , Jean-Marie Aerts  1
Affiliations
Review

mHealth in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe: Context of current health, healthcare status, and demographic structure

Genet Tadese Aboye et al. Digit Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: The advent of digital systems and global mobile phone availability presents an opportunity for better healthcare access and equity. However, the disparity in the usage and availability of mHealth systems between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has not been explored in relation to current health, healthcare status, and demographics.

Objective: This study aimed to compare mHealth system availability and use in SSA and Europe in the above-mentioned context.

Methods: The study analyzed health, healthcare status, and demographics in both regions. It assessed mortality, disease burden, and universal health coverage. A systematic narrative review was conducted to thoroughly assess available data on mHealth availability and use, guiding future research in the field.

Results: SSA is on the verge of stages 2 and 3 in the demographic transition with a youthful population and high birth rate. Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases contribute to high mortality and disease burden, including child mortality. Europe is on the verge of stages 4 and 5 in the demographic transition with low birth and death rates. Europe's population is old, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pose major health challenges. The mHealth literature adequately covers cardiovascular disease/heart failure, and cancer. However, it lacks approaches for respiratory/enteric infections, malaria, and NCDs.

Conclusions: mHealth systems in SSA are underutilized than in Europe, despite alignment with the region's demographics and major health issues. Most initiatives in SSA lack implementation depth, with only pilot tests or small-scale implementations. Europe's reported cases highlight actual implementation and acceptability, indicating a strong implementation depth of mHealth systems.

Keywords: Demography; Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; healthcare; mHealth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Share of deaths by cause, SSA, 2019. (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Share of deaths by cause, Europe, 2019. (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Share of total disease burden (measured in DALYs) by cause, SSA, 2019. (CC BY 4.0). (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Share of total disease burden (measured in DALYs) by cause, Europe, 2019. (CC BY 4.0). (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Under-5 mortality (per 1000), 2020. (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
UHC index per country, 2019. (CC BY 4.0). (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Total population, SSA, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Total population, Europe, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Crude birth rate and crude death rate, SSA, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Crude birth rate and crude death rate, Europe, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Population pyramid, SSA, 2020. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/).
Figure 12.
Figure 12.
Population pyramid, Europe, 2020. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/).
Figure 13.
Figure 13.
Fertility, SSA, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 14.
Figure 14.
Fertility, Europe, 1950–2100. (CC BY 3.0 IGO). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.
Figure 15.
Figure 15.
The five stages of the demographic transition model. (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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