Development of an ICT-based framework towards sustainable optimal diabetes management in Nigerian health sector

This study aims at assessing the importance of incorporating HIT tools into the Nigerian health sector, especially for diabetes management. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this study. Quantitative methods involve questionnaire administration, while qualitative methods comprise observation method and semi structured key informant interviews, used to complement the findings from the questionnaire data collection. AYDOT was developed to customize and adapt the international HIT standard, which can identify patients at risk and physicians could quickly attend to them in real-time through mobile text messages. The conditions used for 'At-risk' patients are if: the Blood pressure>140/80  mmHg, the sugar level before meal>7mm0/L; the Sugar level 2 h after meal>11.1mm0/L, the Body Mass Index BMI (W/H2) >= 25 kg/m2 and diabetes duration>10 yrs. The results from this study imply that for any diabetes management project to be successful, there is a need to move from paper-based to HIT-based system in the entire organization, as optimal management of diabetes relies on the availability and usability of Health Information Technology (HIT) applications.