A Situational Analysis of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Health Research Initiatives in South Asia.

The objective of this paper was to evaluate and compare the quantity and sustainability of digital health initiatives in the South Asia region before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used a two-step methodology of (a) descriptive analysis of digital health research articles published from 2016 to 2021 from South Asia in terms of stratification of research articles based on diseases and conditions they were developed, geography, and tasks wherein the initiative was applied and (b) a simple and replicable tool developed by authors to assess the sustainability of digital health initiatives using experimental or observational study designs. The results of the descriptive analysis highlight the following: (a) there was a 40% increase in the number of studies reported in 2020 when compared to 2019; (b) the three most common areas wherein substantive digital health research has been focused are health systems strengthening, ophthalmic disorders, and COVID-19; and (c) remote consultation, health information delivery, and clinical decision support systems are the top three commonly developed tools. We developed and estimated the inter-rater operability of the sustainability assessment tool ascertained with a Kappa value of 0.806 (±0.088). We conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive impact on digital health research with an improvement in the number of digital health initiatives and an improvement in the sustainability score of studies published during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Provision of rehabilitation and assistive technology services in a low resource setting during the COVID-19 pandemic and introduction of telehealth: service users' and providers' perspectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a challenge for providing assistive technology (AT) and rehabilitation services, with many service providers implementing telehealth service provision for the first time. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of people accessing and providing AT and rehabilitation services during the pandemic and to assess the implementation of telehealth service delivery at an assistive technology and rehabilitation center in India. A mixed-methods design, combining analysis of clinical data and semi-structured interviews, was utilized. A descriptive analysis of demographics and clinical characteristics of service users accessing services through telehealth, or in-person mode was completed. In addition, service users were interviewed to explore their experiences of accessing services during the pandemic. Service providers were also interviewed to gather their opinions on telehealth service delivery during the pandemic. Findings showed that telehealth was an alternative tool in the pandemic for continuing to deliver services in a low-resource setting. However, not all types of services could be successfully delivered via telehealth. There are barriers to the delivery of telehealth services that need to be considered and addressed to allow successful implementation, and it is important to consider that telehealth consultations are not suitable for all service users.