Joseph Alfred
The worldwide public health emergency of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the vulnerability of health systems. As a result of the new coronavirus, healthcare providers and resource-poor communities became scarce. As a result, this study focuses on Africa's readiness to integrate telemedicine into its underdeveloped health systems and how its adoption may assist in relieving poor healthcare and poverty after COVID-19. On January 20, 2021, we did a narrative review in Scopus using various search algorithms to discover accessible literature documenting the adoption of various telemedicine modalities in Africa from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2020. We classified 54 studies based on geography, field, and implementation methods. The findings suggest a willingness to employ telemedicine in resource-constrained settings and with hard-to-reach people, which would alleviate overcrowded healthcare systems and reduce poverty among those who suffer the brunt of healthcare expenditures. Telemedicine can enhance the treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases while also supporting health infrastructure if properly funded by the government. It can help reduce poverty among vulnerable populations and hard-to-reach locations in Africa with adequate government financing. However, given Africa's lack of financial resources, the challenges of implementing telemedicine demand global and national policy before favourable results can be attained. This is especially true in the post-COVID-19 age when it comes to eliminating the multidimensionality of poverty.