Telephone Communication, ICT Use, and Digitalization in Healthcare Performance
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study explores the impact of telephone communication, ICT use, and digitalization on healthcare performance in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), a region facing challenges such as limited infrastructure and resources, geographical barriers, and a high disease burden. It uses panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) GMM‐style estimation, variance decomposition, and Granger causality methods, and data from 1998 to 2022. Advancements in telephone communication, measured by fixed telephone subscriptions, significantly enhance economic growth, government expenditure, and population growth, supporting the hypothesis that improved ICT infrastructure contributes to broader socio‐economic and healthcare benefits. Increased ICT metrics, including ICT goods' exports and imports, correlate with reduced malaria incidence, aligning with the hypothesis that ICT engagement positively affects health outcomes, though the effect on tuberculosis is less pronounced. Digitalization, represented by fixed broadband subscriptions, significantly reduces both malaria and tuberculosis incidences, confirming the hypothesis that digital infrastructure plays a critical role in improving health performance.