INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST HOSPITAL

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

The provision of quality, adequate, accessible, and affordable healthcare is one of the most important indicators of development (Kocher, 1973). To achieve this, good healthcare facilities must be integral part of health systems and must be provided for the proper functioning of the health systems. Similarly, Sen (2002), stated that health is one of the most important conditions of human life, and a critically significant constituent of human capabilities which is necessary for the development of every country. In the 1990s, the United Nations (UN) recognized the importance of health in development. So in a period when overall official development assistance declined, development assistance to health rose in real terms. World Bank lending approach towards healthcare increased, with a doubling of the share of International Development Association disbursements going to health (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2000). Again, in the year 2000, the UN mandated member countries to work towards achieving eight key development goals, popularly called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 (Morton, 2008). Based on the importance that the UN places on healthcare, three out of the eight MDGs lay emphasis on quality healthcare delivery which is critical to sustainable development of every country. Quality healthcare must lead to a reduction in maternal mortality, a reduction in infant mortality and the eradication of certain diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and most importantly, HIV/AIDS. Keeping with World Health Oganisation’s 1946 definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, it will be expedient to say that almost all of the MDGs have some association with health (WHO, 1946). Quality healthcare has been identified as very vital to the development of every country and health experts are working very hard to achieve that.