Information Technology Reference
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operators and handset manufacturers, as well as
bringing positive secondary effects for economic
development (“Countries and Consumers”, 2007).
In Nigeria alone, the number of mobile (GSM)
phone subscribers as at May, 2010 stood at 86
million (Nigeria Communication Commission,
2010). According to Mike (2009), the total African
mobile subscriber base was roughly 280.7 million
people (30% of total) as at March, 2009, and it
has been projected to reach 561 million (53.5%)
by 2012. Telephones have been identified to be
more than computers on the planet (Jose, 2007).
As such, this provides an avenue to reach a vast
majority of people to access different services
including healthcare.
through the Internet and related technologies.
Also, according to the World Health Organization,
eHealth is a term used to describe the combined
use of electronic communication and information
technology in the health sector, or it is the use,
in the health sector, of digital data-transmitted,
stored and retrieved electronically-for clinical,
educational and administrative purposes, both
at the local site and at a distance (World Health
Organization, 2005). Furthermore, it has also been
defined by the Ontario Hospitals eHealth Council
as consumer-centered model of healthcare where
stakeholders collaborate using Information and
Communication Technology including Internet
technologies to manage health, arrange, deliver,
and account for care, and manage the healthcare
system. Considering the various definitions of
eHealth given, it could be said to be the use of
Information and Communication Technology to
support and provide healthcare services to indi-
viduals, or the general public at large either at a
local site or at a distance.
eHealth
eHealth has been defined severally. According
to Shariq et al. (2007), eHealth refers to the use
of Information and Communication Technol-
ogy in healthcare. According to the Ontario
eHealth Council (cited by Hans et al., 2005), it
is consumer-centered model of healthcare where
stakeholders collaborate using Information and
Communication Technology including Internet
technologies to manage health, arrange, deliver
and account for care, and manage healthcare
system. Others have associated eHealth with
activities such as managing and arranging, ac-
cording to Ontario eHealth Council, educating
and connecting, according to Canada's Health
Informatics Association (COACH), obtaining,
according to Southwest Medical Group, provid-
ing, according to Brommey, redefining, according
to Decker, supporting, according to Brommey,
using, according to Mitchell (1999), assisting,
according to Sternberg (2004), and accessing,
according to Wyatt and Liu (2002), as cited also
by Hans et al. (2005). According to Venkastesan
and Chellappan (2008), eHealth is an emerging
field in the intersection of medical informatics,
public health and business, referring to health
services and information delivered or enhanced
Java Expert System Shell (JESS)
Jess is a rule engine for the Java platform. The
Jess system implements the C Language Integrated
Production System (CLIPS) developed at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). To use it, the logic is specified in the
form of rules using one of two formats: the Jess
rule language or XML (Extended Markup Lan-
guage). Rules can create new data, or they can do
anything that the Java programming language can
do (“Ernest”, 2008). CLIPS is based on the original
Official Production System (OPS5) language de-
veloped by Charles Forgy. OPS5 has been widely
used for expert system development because it
used a very efficient pattern-matching algorithm
(the Rete network) and because it is freely avail-
able in source form. Researchers at NASA re-
implemented OPS5 in the C language, renaming
it CLIPS. Ernest Friedman-Hill re-implemented
CLIPS in the Java language, renaming it Jess. Jess
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