Closing the "Know-Do" Gap: eHealth Strategies for the Global South

For years, the Internet has been the new black, the "in" thing, the must have. And the virtual fever is spreading. According to the World Bank, global Internet use more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2005, from 15 users per 1000 population to 67.[1] Yet, many Global South countries are stalled on the Information Superhighway: the same World Bank report found that only 15 per 1000 population in sub-Saharan Africa are connected to the Internet, and only 21 per1000 in South Asia. To say nothing of glaring access inequalities within countries, lack of foreign investment in the communications sector of developing nations, and deficient connectivity in key areas of national infrastructure - schools, government centers, and health facilities. Yet the same World Bank report noted that eHealth initiatives ranked last in a list of technology strategies among countries surveyed.[1].