Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Smart cities endeavour to provide a good quality of life to its inhabitants. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates redrawing the framework of epidemic management in India. Information, Communication & Technology (ICT) solutions such as mobile health (mHealth) can complement this. OBJECTIVES: To review ICT and mHealth used for epidemic management in smart cities of India. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to identify the use of ICT or mHealth applications for epidemic management in smart cities. A predefined search strategy and a predefined eligibility criterion to search for articles published in English on Medline were used. RESULTS: Our study showed ICT and mHealth use has increased during the recent COVID-19 pandemic in India and available solutions can be applied in smart city framework to improve epidemic management and achieve mHealth targets. CONCLUSION: We conclude that there have been many advances in the provisions of ICT and mHealth interventions in India in context to smart cities and scope for improvements abound.
Highlights
Smart cities endeavour to provide a good quality of life to its inhabitants
Eradication of Poliomyelitis was possible through surveillance of the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases and vaccination drives among under-five children in the country. (Banerjee et al, 2000) One of the recent examples of successful containment of a potential national-level epidemic was the outbreak of Nipah Virus (NiV) in Kerala
Innovations like the Health ATMs connected to doctors or Health Care Workers (HCWs) to help citizens are very useful towards the integration of mobile health (mHealth) in the smart cities framework especially during epidemics
Summary
Smart cities endeavour to provide a good quality of life to its inhabitants. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates redrawing the framework of epidemic management in India. RESULTS: Our study showed ICT and mHealth use has increased during the recent COVID-19 pandemic in India and available solutions can be applied in smart city framework to improve epidemic management and achieve mHealth targets. Innovations in the data sciences and technology have become the guiding principle in improving human health with changing urban landscape (Ramaswami et al, 2016) These innovations have often been termed as Smart Solutions which include Smart Mobile phones (Smartphones), Smart applications (Apps) for these phones, etc. The use of such smart health solutions would further transform a usual city into a smart city and Rajgourab Ghosh and Sanjeev Kumar add to the mission of 'Universal Healthcare' This becomes more evident and a necessity in the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. As a part of providing good quality of life, smart cities are expected to be resilient to epidemics
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