Telemedicine helps to overcome gender-based barriers to healthcare

An Atlas-award winning study reported in the journal Telematics and Informatics has found that healthcare services delivered via video conferencing or mobile phones are helping to improve access to care for women and girls. The findings in rural Nepal are likely to be applied to many other parts of the world where computers and mobile phones are increasingly accessible.

The study has been selected by an international scientific committee to receive this month’s Atlas Award from 10 nominations that could significantly impact people’s lives around the world or have already done so. The winning research is presented alongside interviews, expert opinions, multimedia and much more on the Atlas website.

“Women and girls access to healthcare is affected by gender roles and norms,” said Rajan Parajuli, lead author of the study from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. “We have found those barriers are reduced after introduction of telemedicine services. Thus, I’m hopeful it might be an effective approach to tackle geographic and cultural difficulties in countries facing similar problems like rural Nepal.”

To explore these dynamics in the new study, Rajan Parajuli and study co-author, Philippe Doneys, used a mixed method design, tackling the question in multiple ways in hopes of coming to a more convincing conclusion. First, they obtained telemedicine records from two hospitals in Kathmandu, Nepal and three local telemedicine centers in western Nepal. Those records provided a list of 175 women and girls who had used telemedicine services, either via video conferencing or mobile phone.

About 100 women and girls completed surveys comparing their access to healthcare before and after the introduction of telemedicine. The researchers also conducted in-depth interview with a smaller sampling of the women. In addition to the women and girls, the researchers spoke with a local network provider, health post chiefs, village leaders, school principals, and others about the influence of telemedicine.

The findings show that telemedicine has reduced the frequency of long-distance travel to hospitals as women can receive care from the comfort and ease of their own communities. The vast majority of girls and women in the study reported travel of less than one kilometer to receive healthcare via video conferencing. Mobile phone users reported no need to travel for healthcare services at all. That’s especially important because women in rural Nepal often struggle to get the permission they need to travel. The survey and interview responses also highlighted the importance of telemedicine in reducing healthcare costs.

Study participants reported increased comfort in seeking consultation through telemedicine for sexual and reproductive health matters. Overall, the study showed that telemedicine tends to reduce barriers to healthcare for women and girls in rural areas.

“By shrinking distance to healthcare services, telemedicine reduces travel, making it easier to manage time out from household chores, reduces treatment expenses, and reduces apprehension female patients may have sharing their sexual and reproductive health problems,” Parajuli and Doneys wrote. “This should help us understand the gender dynamics of information and communication technologies in healthcare, but also shows the interrelation between gender, technology and health.”

The full story and interview with the authors is available to read here.

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The article is “Exploring the role of telemedicine in improving access to healthcare services by women and girls in rural Nepal,” by Rajan Parajuli and Philippe Doneys (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.05.006). It appears in Telematics and Informatics, Volume 34, May 2017, 1166-1176, published by Elsevier.

About Telematics and Informatics 
Telematics and Informatics is an interdisciplinary journal examining the social, economic, political and cultural impacts and challenges of information and communication technologies. Current technologies and issues of interest include — but are not limited to — e-commerce and e–governance, the WWW, the 2.0 paradigm, regulation of digital technologies, social networking, special user groups, mobile and wireless communications, peer-to-peer learning, green computing, alternative community networks, ICT for sustainable development, globalization and security, management and policymaking, advertising and the internet, use of ICT in healthcare and education. https://www.journals.elsevier.com/telematics-and-informatics

About Atlas, Research for a better world 
Science impacts everyone’s world. With over 1,800 journals publishing articles from across science, technology and health, our mission is to share some of the stories that matter. Each month Elsevier’s Atlas showcases research that can significantly impact people’s lives around the world or has already done so. We hope that bringing wider attention to this research will go some way to ensuring its successful implementation.

With so many worthy articles published the tough job of selecting a single article to be awarded “The Atlas” each month comes down to an Advisory Board. The winning research is presented alongside interviews, expert opinions, multimedia and much more on the Atlas website: www.elsevier.com/atlas

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray’s Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com