Abstract:
Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs) are increasingly being used in many developing countries, several of
which have moved beyond isolated pilot projects to active large-scale implementation as part of their national health
strategies. Despite growing enthusiasm for adopting EHRs in resource poor settings, almost no attention has been
paid to the ethical issues that might arise. In this article we argue that these ethical issues should be addressed now
if EHRs are to be appropriately implemented in these settings. We take a systematic approach guided by a widely
accepted ethical framework currently in use for developing countries to first describe the ethical issues, and then
propose a set of ‘Points to Consider’ to guide further thinking and decision-making.
