Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology

Quality Control Frameworks for Electronic Health Record Data Workflows in Resource-Constrained Settings: A Structured Review with Implications for Global Health Information Management

Ambika Baniya Bhandari — 2026-07-10

Electronic health record (EHR) systems have been adopted at an accelerating pace across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as part of broader efforts to digitise health information management. The data these systems generate underpin clinical care, programme monitoring and national reporting obligations, yet their quality remains uneven and, in many settings, inadequately governed. This review synthesises the published evidence on quality control frameworks applied to EHR and related routine health information system (RHIS) data workflows in resource-constrained settings, drawing on conceptual data quality models, empirical facility-level assessments, and policy and governance literature. It traces the evolution of data quality thinking from generic information systems theory to health-sector-specific frameworks, and examines how completeness, accuracy, timeliness, consistency and confidentiality are operationalised across diverse health system contexts. Structural constraints, including unreliable electricity, limited connectivity, workforce shortages and weak supervisory feedback loops, recur as dominant determinants of poor data quality, while interoperability gaps and fragmented governance arrangements compound the problem at a systems level. Promising developments include offline-capable architectures, structured data quality review toolkits, and early applications of machine learning for anomaly detection, although evidence of their sustained impact in resource-constrained settings remains limited. The review concludes that durable improvement in EHR data quality depends less on technology procurement than on aligning organisational incentives, workforce capacity, governance arrangements and infrastructure investment around a coherent, locally adapted quality assurance framework. Implications for global health information management practice and policy are discussed alongside priority areas for future research.

Bridging the Public Health–Cloud Security Divide: Workforce Implications of the HIPAA Security Rule Modernization for Public Health Informatics

Ambika Baniya Bhandari — 2026-07-13

The proposed modernization of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Security Rule represents the most substantial regulatory shift in United States health data protection since 2003. Triggered by escalating ransomware activity, the migration of health records to cloud infrastructure, and persistent deficiencies identified through federal enforcement, the rulemaking would convert many previously discretionary safeguards into mandatory technical controls, including multi-factor authentication, encryption of data at rest and in transit, and rapid incident reporting. Most commentary on the rule has approached it through a hospital compliance lens, yet its consequences reach deep into public health agencies, which increasingly depend on cloud-hosted surveillance, case-reporting, and laboratory information systems that handle protected health information on behalf of state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments. This review examines the workforce implications of this regulatory shift for public health informatics, drawing on literature spanning health information security, healthcare cybersecurity human factors, and public health informatics workforce development. It synthesises evidence on existing skills gaps within the governmental public health workforce, the technical and behavioural demands that cloud-based security controls will place on informatics personnel, and the structural mismatch between public health staffing models and the specialised competencies the modernised rule presumes. The review identifies workforce development strategies, including competency frameworks, cross-training pathways, behaviourally informed security training, and shared-service models, that may help narrow this gap. It concludes that without coordinated investment in public health informatics training and recruitment, the technical ambitions of the modernised Security Rule risk outpacing the operational capacity of the agencies tasked with implementing it.

Decoupling Methane Emissions from Economic Growth in Burkina Faso: Evidence from Tapio Elasticity, Log-Mean Divisia Index Decomposition, and Environmental Kuznets Curve Analysis (1980–2018)

Mohamed Beidari — 2026-07-11

This study assessed whether methane emissions decoupled from economic growth in Burkina Faso between 1980 and 2018 and identified the main drivers of the observed trend. A quantitative national time-series design was used, combining Tapio decoupling elasticity, additive Log-Mean Divisia Index decomposition, sectoral source analysis, and an exploratory Environmental Kuznets Curve assessment. Methane emissions data were obtained from FAOSTAT, gross domestic product data from the World Bank, and population data from the United Nations Population Division. The results show that methane emissions increased from 5.005 MtCO₂e in 1980 to 20.373 MtCO₂e in 2018, while real gross domestic product increased from USD 2.15 billion to USD 14.19 billion. Methane intensity rose during the 1980s and then declined, with a net fall of 38% over the full period, from 2325 to 1435 t CO₂e per million USD of gross domestic product, and a further fall of 57% from its 1990 peak. Tapio elasticity declined from 2.44 in the 1980s, an expansive negative decoupling state in Tapio's typology, to 0.26 in the 2010s, indicating weak decoupling. The Log-Mean Divisia Index decomposition showed that population growth and rising income per capita increased methane emissions, while declining methane intensity partly offset these upward pressures. Enteric fermentation remained the dominant methane source, accounting for 55% of total methane emissions in 2018, followed by manure management and rice cultivation with biomass burning. The full annual Environmental Kuznets Curve specification suggested an inverted-U pattern, but the estimated turning point coincides with a discontinuity in the FAOSTAT series around 1990 and is therefore treated as indicative rather than definitive. The findings indicate that Burkina Faso has achieved weak decoupling, that is, relative but not absolute decoupling of methane emissions from economic growth. Achieving absolute decoupling will require targeted methane mitigation in livestock, manure management, and biomass-burning practices.