Integrating Privacy-By-Design in e-Health

Abstract

Technology has changed how services are provided and activities are performed in today's world. The increased usage of technology has resulted in the development of hardware and software-based solutions. The healthcare industry, which cannot be left out, also uses these hardware and software-based solutions to perform activities and provide services. Some African countries have also adopted these solutions to provide healthcare to their citizens. The reliance on technology requires the tackling of security and privacy issues. As a developing continent with fragile health systems, adopting e-health presents numerous security and privacy concerns that must be addressed. Privacy by Design, which is regarded as a privacy protection paradigm, is critical for African countries that want to or have already adopted e-health. Therefore, the adoption of e-health necessitates the implementation of Privacy by Design to mitigate security and privacy incidents. In this study, we propose a Privacy by Design framework for e-health. The framework consists of the following components: management, people, technology, and users. The proposed framework is intended to improve privacy by design procedures when implementing e-health. This framework would ensure to improve privacy protection as well as information security. Integrating privacy by design into e-health will improve the handling of security and privacy incidents while also protecting personal data and privacy.