ABSTRACT
The region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is diverse and retains a superior growth potential. It benefits from a privileged geographical location with big markets, a young and growing educated population, and competitive advantages in several industries. Regardless of their differences, countries face shared concerns, most notably in health. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MENA countries enact reforms to create a more robust and inclusive digital health systems to increase growth, development, and integrity. Throughout the coordinated containment and mitigation efforts, most of the countries have integrated digital technologies into the health systems. These procedures include digital government initiatives, the introduction of digital health training courses, live video surgeries and virtual patient monitoring, rural and remote telemedicine programs, and the development of a national electronic health records (EHR) system. Each country took necessary actions to address equity, literacy, and development of resilient health systems. The nine featured countries in this report illustrate the diversity among the MENA region and account for major opportunities and achievements as well as promises and challenges that digital health presents for its populations. © 2022 IMIA and Georg Thieme Verlag KG.
ABSTRACT
The demographics in the Arab world are expected to go through a change in the coming decades. It is projected that the older population in Qatar will increase. Access to and use of information communication technology (ICT) by older persons and their caregivers has rarely been discussed. This study exposes the perspectives of the policy-level stakeholders and non-profit organizations working with older persons regarding the access and use of ICT. Through focus groups, the study investigates existing services and identifies the challenges encountered within the ICT Ecosystem. The study also attempts to explore their personal perspectives toward the access and use of older persons and their caregivers to ICT Thematic analysis was employed to capture the main themes emerging from exchanges with the stakeholders. Five themes emerged to stress the importance of existing efforts, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the extent of technology acceptance. The findings revealed the extent of partnership between the different institutes when providing the different services, conducting raising awareness activities, and training campaigns, and supporting the technology acceptance. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for stakeholders on ways to address the digital gap. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Switching from face-to-face learning to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging for students especially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents and caregivers of children with ASD struggle when adjusting to the new situation due to the lack of online supportive educational resources. This paper explores two different mediums for online learning resources;which are mobile applications and videos. The strengths and limitations of 11 mobile applications and two websites on educational videos were highlighted and compared using customized rubrics adapted from existing studies. Findings show that the existing applications require content enhancements, dynamic children-directed layout design and free access to a number of the contents. The reviewed videos on two different websites have quality content but lack explicit subject categorization as well as filtering features to help parents and caregivers access desired videos. Evaluation of online learning experience for children with ASD is still in its infancy and requires further research, especially in content development. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The world is witnessing unprecedented times as the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has already conquered and locked down most of the globe. While some indications suggest that the COVID-19 curve is starting to flatten, as of May 2020, we still see constant linear growth in cases and fatalities. Even worse, it is speculated that the situation may further deteriorate with a possible second wave. As governments around the world continue to impose increasingly stringent measures to fight and limit the spread of the pandemic, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can play a significant role in the public health surveillance and diagnostics relating to COVID-19. AI is being heavily leveraged in the diagnosis of COVID-19, prediction of its severity for infection, and the discovery of related drugs and vaccines. However, several challenges can impede the exploitation of AI amid the COVID-19 pandemic such as lack of data, privacy, and maturity of AI applications. This chapter discusses the main AI opportunities and challenges in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.