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Feasibility of Electronic Health Kiosks to Assess Chronic Disease Status in Remote Areas of Developing Countries

Authors:
Ashish Joshi
Pinaki Panigrahi
Douglas Puricelli Perin
Radhanath Satpathya
Mohit Arora

Keywords: health kiosk; public health informatics; global health; chronic disease.

Abstract:
Developing countries lack the infrastructure for effective health care delivery, especially in remote areas. To prevent and manage the rising burden of chronic diseases in developing countries, health care services must reach even the most remote areas. The study presents the electronic health kiosk (EHK) as an effective and feasible solution to assess chronic disease status in remote areas of developing countries, having India as an example. Cross-sectional data was collected on a convenient sample of 429 subjects, 18 years and over, in urban, slum and tribal settings. Results show high prevalence of overweight subjects in urban settings (31.5%; n=70), a high prevalence of pre-hypertension overall (41.5%; n=178) and hypertension in tribal settings (26.1%; n=28), and high glucose prevalence in 27% (n=116) of subjects overall, and (17.8%; n=19). EHKs can be used to assess these health outcomes in areas that normally are not covered due to lack of infrastructure or health personnel. These health kiosks can be a medium to deliver evidence-based, contextual and tailored multimedia health education modules improving the overall quality of health care among these populations. They can also help to raise awareness about health issues and create meaningful information for public health decision-making.

Pages: 141 to 145

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: October 21, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4553

ISBN: 978-1-61208-243-1

Location: Venice, Italy

Dates: from October 21, 2012 to October 26, 2012