Developing Countries Find Telemedicine Forges Links to More Care and Research
PJAMA. 1998;280:1295-1296HYSICIANS in rural America know isolation challenges their ability to keep up with the latest in medical information, techniques, and peer-to-peer consultations. But imagine how tough it is for physicians in developing countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania, and Senegal. “One of the major impediments to the development and delivery of better health care in Africa is the inability, or at least the limited ability, of health professionals to share and collaborate on research, to participate in patient tracking through databases, to consult with colleagues and medical experts, and to track infectious and emerging diseases,” said Nigeria-born Patrick Nta, MS, of Harvard Medical School in an unpublished paper he wrote earlier this year.
Nta advocates using high-tech tools such as the Internet, e-mail, telemedicine, and teleradiology to connect African physicians with each other and with colleagues around the globe.
