Digital Transformation in Environmental Health Data Management: A Contemporary Need

In this age, Environmental Health needs to digitally transform its data management system to embrace the digital paradigm shift in society and leverage all presented opportunities. Digital transformation has changed how many organisations operate and deliver value to their customers by harnessing the power of data to gain valuable insights and improve operational efficiencies. Data in Environmental Health is key to enabling practitioners and decision-makers to implement data-driven measures to protect people’s health and the environment. This study aimed to assess digital transformation and the use of data in the provision of Environmental Health Services in 11 municipalities in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study design was used, starting with a quantitative phase that entailed an online survey, whereby 105 environmental health practitioners participated. The qualitative phase followed, where 10 environmental health managers were interviewed. For data analysis, IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0 was used for quantitative data, and the ATLAS.ti software version 24.0.0.29576 was used for qualitative data. Data from both phases were integrated to derive joint results. The results indicate that most environmental health practitioners (66.7%) were not satisfied at all with the digitalisation of Environmental Health data management in their municipalities. Data management practices were found to be mainly paper-based and ineffective. As a result, administrative work overburden was reported by 90.5% of the environmental health practitioners and negatively affected their use of data for decision-making (p=0.038). These results indicate a need for the review and digitalisation of Environmental Health data management in South Africa, to streamline operational processes, and leverage available opportunities. The adoption of digital technologies and improvement of data use can enable evidence-based decision-making, lead to more proactive and effective delivery of Environmental Health Services and yield better health outcomes in the community.