Abstract

Healthcare innovations are geared towards greater patient comfort, improved diagnosis and better treatment outcomes. Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) has witnessed many technological innovations become a core aspect of daily practice. Sub-Saharan Africa is currently lagging behind the rest of the world in both development and uptake of innovative health technologies. This paper aims to examine these innovations in otorhinolaryngology as well as the challenges and routes to their timely deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A literature review was conducted on papers retrieved from Google scholar and Pubmed. Several factors have hampered practitioners in SSA from fully leveraging new technologies. By applying political, legal, economic, educational and scientific strategies these practitioners may adopt safe, effective, home-grown adaptations of emerging technologies for accelerated uptake.

Keywords: Healthcare, Innovation, mHealth, Otorhinolaryngology, Technology

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