世界银行-莱索托医疗保健转型_利用数字健康克服卫生系统挑战（英）-2025_115页_5mb

Transforming Health Care in Lesotho: Digital Health Assessment and Recommendations

Executive Summary

• Healthcare access and service delivery remain major challenges in Lesotho.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital health solutions.
• Lesotho’s digital health system is at an "Emerging" maturity stage (score: 1.5/5.0), indicating significant gaps in infrastructure, interoperability, and data utilization.
• Key recommendations focus on foundational investments, including restructured IT governance, improved connectivity, and workforce training.
• Digital health can support primary healthcare transformation and enhance health system resilience if implemented strategically.

Key Findings

Digital Health Maturity

• Digital Environment: Weak, due to lack of unified policies and infrastructure.
• Architecture & Data: Limited interoperability and data governance.
• Analytics: Underutilized for decision-making.
• Applications: Fragmented, with gaps in patient-level data and impact evaluations.

Strengths & Opportunities

• Extensive mobile coverage and ongoing digital infrastructure.
• Drafted eHealth Strategy (2019–2023) provides a starting point.
• Opportunities: Better alignment between government and partners, improved interoperability, and leveraging regional digital initiatives.

Threats

• Political instability and fragmented strategy implementation.
• Limited financial resources for digitalization.
• Poor data security and digital literacy among health workers.

Strategic Recommendations

Foundational Investments (Short-Term Priority)

1. Restructure the Ministry of Health’s IT department for inclusive digital governance.
2. Enrich the national ICT policy to support health infrastructure.
3. Collaborate with educational institutions to train health professionals in digital health skills.

Functional Investments (Medium-Term Priority)

4. Scale up the eRegister system to include broader programs like family planning.
5. Implement patient reminder systems and telemedicine for primary care.
6. Enhance data analytics dashboards and feedback mechanisms.

Frontier Investments (Long-Term Priority)

7. Develop regulatory sandboxes for innovation testing.
8. Conduct cost-effectiveness studies for high-impact interventions.

Implementation Roadmap

• Short-Term (0-1 year): Strengthen governance and infrastructure.
• Medium-Term (1-3 years): Scale core applications and improve data utilization.
• Long-Term (>3 years): Institutionalize innovation and conduct impact assessments.

Conclusion

• Digital health offers a transformative opportunity for Lesotho’s healthcare system.
• A comprehensive digital strategy, stronger governance, and sustained investment are critical for success.

For detailed maturity scores, maturity dimensions, and guidelines, refer to respective sections.