Cabo Verde Telemedicine Program: An Update Report and Analysis of 2,442 Teleconsultations

The Cabo Verde Telemedicine program (CVTP) was established by the International Virtual e-Hospital Foundation using the Initiate-Build-Operate-Transfer strategy to improve access to specialty care for the population in the archipelago of Cabo Verde in 2012. Since its inception, the CVTP has proven a great success story of telemedicine in Africa. Our first report on the initial results of a nationwide CVTP was published in 2014. The aim of this article is to analyze the follow-up data and analyze the activity of CVTP. All telemedicine consultations of the CVTP from 2014 to 2018 were analyzed. Patient demographics, clinical discipline, and transfer status were analyzed. Categorical variables were compared with a chi-squared test. There were 2,442 telemedicine consultations in 24 clinical programs performed during the study period. The most common clinical disciplines with >100 consultations were neurology, cardiology, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, endocrinology, otolaryngology, urology, and dermatology. Overall, the transfer rate was 34.3%. The nationwide CVTP continues to increase access to specialized care, prevent unnecessary and costly transfers, and has become a great success story of telemedicine in Africa. Moreover, this program should serve as a model for establishing island-nations telemedicine programs worldwide.