EHealth Investment Appraisal in Africa: A Scoping Review

eHealth is an opportunity cost, competing for limited available funds with other health priorities such as clinics, vaccinations, medicines and even salaries. As such, it should be appraised for probable impact prior to allocation of funds. This is especially pertinent as recognition grows for the role of eHealth in attaining Universal Health Coverage. Despite optimism about eHealth's potential role, in Africa there remain insufficient data and skills for adequate economic appraisals to select optimal investments from numerous competing initiatives. The aim of this review is to identify eHealth investment appraisal approaches and tools that have been used in African countries, describe their characteristics and make recommendations regarding African eHealth investment appraisal in the face of limited data and expertise. Methods: Literature on eHealth investment appraisals conducted in African countries and published between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2020 was reviewed. Selected papers' investment appraisal characteristics were assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for economic evaluations and a newly developed Five-Case Model for Digital Health (FCM-DH) checklist for investment appraisal. 5 papers met inclusion criteria. Their assessments revealed important appraisal gaps. In particular, none of the papers addressed risk exposure, affordability, adjustment for optimism bias, clear delivery milestones, practical plans for implementation, change management or procurement, and only 1 paper described plans for building partnerships. Discussion: Using this insight, an extended 5-Case Model is proposed as the foundation of an African eHealth investment appraisal framework. This, combined with building local eHealth appraisal capabilities, may promote optimal eHealth investment decisions, strengthen implementations and improve the number and quality of related publications.

Automated summary

There are significant gaps in the evaluation of eHealth investments in African countries, with insufficient consideration given to aspects such as risk exposure, affordability, implementation plans, change management, and partnerships. An extended Five-Case Model is proposed as the foundation of an African eHealth investment appraisal framework, along with an emphasis on building local eHealth appraisal capabilities to improve investment decisions and implementations.