JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background The Covid-19 pandemic urges coordinated mechanisms to respond to the outbreak across health sectors. Digital health solutions have been identified as promising pillars to tackle this challenge. Methods This review investigated peer reviewed articles and grey literature to highlight digital health solutions aiming to manage the Covid-19 crisis and reduce its impact on the citizens and the healthcare systems. It also discusses the challenges and ethical hurdles for a broader and long term implementation. Results In order to decrease the risk of infection, telemedicine was used as a successful healthcare model in both emergency and primary care. Official communication plans should promote easy and diverse channels to inform the population and to avoid rumors and reduce threats to public health. Social media such as Twitter or Google trends analyses are highly beneficial to model trends of the pandemic as well as to monitor the evolution of peoples’ symptoms or reaction to the pandemic over time. Acceptability of digital solutions has to be confronted with cultural, moral and religious backgrounds. With the priority given to a collective public health benefit, digital tools may sometimes be intrusive and can erode individual freedoms or leave vulnerable populations behind. Conclusion This pandemic showed the strong potential of the various digital health solutions tested in the Covid-19 crisis. More concerted measures should now ensure future digital health initiatives to have a greater impact on the epidemic and most strategic needs to ease the life of those who are at the front of the crisis.