IntroductionDespite health applications becoming ubiquitous and with enormous potential to facilitate self-management, regulatory challenges such as poor application quality, breach of data privacy and limited interoperability have impeded their full adoption. While many countries now have digital health-related policies/strategies, there is also a need for regulatory standards and guidance that address key regulatory challenges associated with the use of health applications. Currently, it is unclear the status of countries in Africa regarding regulatory standards and guidance that address the use of health applications.This protocol describes the process of conducting a scoping review which aims to investigate the extent to which regulatory standards and guidance address the use of health applications for self-management within the WHO African Region countries.MethodsThe review will follow the methodological framework for conducting a scoping study by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), and the updated methodological guidance for conducting a Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review. Given that regulatory standards and guidance are unlikely to be available in scientific databases, we will search Scopus, Google, OpenGrey, WHO Regional Office for Africa Library (AFROLIB), African Index Medicus (AIM), websites of WHO, ITU and Ministries of Health, repositories for digital health policies. We will also search the reference lists of included documents, and contact key stakeholders in the region. Results will be reported using descriptive qualitative content analysis based on the review objectives. The policy analysis framework by Walt and Gilson (1994) will be used to organise findings. A summary of the key findings will be presented using tables, charts and maps.Ethics and disseminationThe collection of primary data is not anticipated in this study and hence ethical approval will not be required. The review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal while key findings will be shared with relevant organisations and/or presented at conferences.
Background: Knowledge Translation Platforms (KTP) attempt to bridge the "know-do gap" between researchers and policymakers. This study summarized the evidence on activities, as well as methods of monitoring and evaluation projects of KTPs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Methods: The Arksey and O’Malley methodology for scoping reviews was used. The databases accessed include Medline, Global Health, CINAHL, EBSCO and Cochrane library databases. Only Studies that indicated range of activities, tools or methods used in monitoring and evaluating KTP to achieve the implementation of evidence informed policymaking in LMICs were included. The key words used includes Knowledge Translation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Platforms and Low- and Middle-Income countries. Results: Total of 3150 hits were obtained from the searched databases. 750 duplicates were identified and removed resulting to 2398 articles. Using title screening, 2123 articles were excluded resulting in 275 articles for abstract screening. Abstract screening led to exclusion 246 articles, leaving 29 articles for the full-text screening. Full-text screening resulted to exclusion of 25 articles resulting to 4 articles that meet the inclusion criteria. No relevant articles were obtained from the reference list screening and grey literature search. Conclusion: Evidence shows that Case study methodology is the predominate method of evaluating KTPs. The shortest time duration from generation to use of evidence in decision making was noticed to be 1-year. The range of activities used to monitor KTP in bridging the “know do gap” includes stakeholder’s engagement, building capacity, priority setting, meeting with stakeholders, generating policy brief, litmus testing of brief, stakeholders dialogue, evidence brief and dialogue review, disseminating of findings and implementation. The minimum and maximum number of activities performed in each KTP process is 5 and 8 activities respectively.
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