ReviewFrontiers in digital health2026
Telemedicine in the sky: prospects and challenges for the aviation sector in Sub Saharan Africa.
Review in Frontiers in digital health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The rapid growth of commercial aviation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), combined with an increasing prevalence of chronic disease among travelers and limited in-flight medical resources, has elevated in-flight medical emergencies as a significant public health concern. Telemedicine presents a transformative opportunity to enhance aeromedical care. However, its adoption within SSA's aviation sector remains critically underdeveloped and underexplored in the literature. This integrative review examines the prospects and challenges of integrating telemedicine into SSA's aviation sector and generates context-specific recommendations to inform policy and practice. We conducted a comprehensive literature search across Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, African Journals Online and Google Scholar, supplemented by grey literature. Thirty-five sources were synthesized across four analytical domains, with Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory providing the theoretical framework for the analysis. Six prospect domains were identified: real-time teleconsultations; multimodal biometric data transmission; continuity-of-care; psychosocial benefits for passengers and cabin crew; financial and operational/brand gains all aligning with the DOI attribute of relative advantage. However, these prospects are constrained by persistent challenges including unreliable satellite connectivity, ageing aircraft fleets, fragmented regulatory frameworks, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, financial barriers and inadequate cabin crew training. Recommendations are directed at three stakeholders namely, airline operators, aviation regulators and health policymakers and are anchored in regional realities. The review concludes that telemedicine holds transformative potential for SSA's expanding aviation sector, yet its realization demands harmonized regulatory action, targeted investment and capacity building tailored to the regions' realities. Robust primary research within SSA's aviation health context is urgently needed to move beyond inferential evidence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.