Digitalisation of Healthcare and the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions in Africa

Abstract

The research aimed to examine the effects of healthcare digitisation and the growing influence of the fourth industrial revolution in Africa. This study used a desktop literature review approach on the latest peer-reviewed journal articles on how digitalisation is influenced by the fourth industrial revolution in Africa. The findings of the study confirmed that digitalisation is the ongoing process that is taking shape daily in both public and private healthcare providers. This is fueled by the new available technologies that allow healthcare providers to provide better healthcare to their patients. However, there is also a growing gap between the poor and the rich, as well as the extent to which the poor access and benefit from the quantum leap in healthcare. This research brings to the fore issues on how technology can improve the lives of people. It shows the weaknesses of governments in providing a conducive environment for the public sector to grow seamlessly at the same pace as the private sector, hence creating two worlds, one for the rich and another for the poor.