The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals recognises the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in accelerating human development and progress by bridging the digital divide and developing knowledge societies. Internet technologies affect every sphere of human and organisational life. The study was motivated by low e-health adoption in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. A cross-sectional quantitative survey investigated e-health implementation by private dental care service providers in Bulawayo. The research population comprised private dental service providers in Bulawayo. Data was collected using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that was self-administered. Regression and factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy, Bartlett’s sphericity test, and the Principal Component Analysis were used for data analysis. The study found that private dental service providers in Bulawayo were already implementing some rudimentary elements of e-health in their day-to-day practice. The findings also revealed that private dental care providers positively perceived the benefits of implementing e-health, such as improved quality of health service delivery, enhanced efficiency, and improved accessibility of services. Participants highlighted ICT costs, communication, lack of experience, and e-readiness as significant barriers to e-health implementation. Most participants were concerned that personal health information may fall into the wrong hands resulting in privacy violations and loss of personal data. The regression coefficient showed that combined variations in the independent variables explain at least 76.4% of the dependent variable (adoption). The study recommends the government enact policies that support private dental service providers in implementing e-health systems to improve service delivery. The study contributes to the literature on e-health adoption in developing countries.

The study’s objective was to examine the management of data centre electronic waste (e-waste) by Zimbabwean universities to ensure environmental sustainability and reduce the epidemiological effect of indiscriminate disposal of e-waste. The 21st century has seen universities adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to automate processes and support technology-based learning, raising demands for data centre infrastructure to run applications and store data. In developing countries, obsolete ICT equipment is indiscriminately discarded with municipal waste into landfills and often scavenged to extract valuable metals using rudimentary methods such as heating, burning, and leaching, causing environmental and epidemiological crises. E-waste is the fastest growing stream of solid waste that contains scarce rare earth minerals and toxic elements, presenting an opportunity and a crisis during disposal. The study utilised the descriptive study design through a quantitative questionnaire to collect data from ICT Directors and Managers from Zimbabwean universities. Results show that a fifth of the participants had operational procedures for handling e-waste. A tenth of the participants knew of the existence of national policies. Obsolete equipment was kept in storerooms, while some were discarded with municipal trash. Most respondents were aware of the effect of e-waste, which is attributed to responsible management. Most participants redeployed decommissioned data centre equipment to less intense processing environments; 28% had labelled bins and designated e-waste collection points. In reducing their carbon footprint, three-quarters of the participants virtualised servers and stored data on the cloud, and 10% of the institutions practised take-back schemes and located data centres onsite. Universities should legislate the management of data centres to control carbon emissions, energy and e-waste and contribute to green initiatives. Partnerships with developed countries for data centre design and high-end recycling should be encouraged, thus creating employment, generating income for institutions and reducing the epidemiological effects.

The deployment of mobile health (mHealth) apps can transform healthcare in rural and remote communities worldwide. Rural communities in Zimbabwe have limited access to information that affects their health, economic and social being due to structural and social barriers related to the inaccessibility of traditional media. mhealth apps are a valuable tool to monitor disease outbreaks and provide preventative information to the public. Lack of access to COVID-19 information results in high fatalities and public panic, and it is critical to publish reliable and timely information. The study’s objective was to demonstrate the utility of a mHealth app prototype developed to enhance access to COVID-19 information in rural and remote communities in Zimbabwe. The prototype provides COVID-19 information such as statistics, preventative measures, self-diagnostics, social distancing information, and general hygiene to rural communities with limited access to official information channels on the pandemic. A design science research methodology was used to design, build and evaluate the COVID-19 mHealth app and fulfil the study’s objectives. Thirty potential users participated in the evaluation of the prototype. The evaluation results show that potential users perceived that the prototype was useful, engaging, easy to learn, well designed, and provided relevant information. A strong correlation was observed between the design, engagement, functionality, and learnability. More widespread usability and more representative tests should be conducted to ascertain the efficacy and usability of the app. The study contributes literature on usability studies in developing countries. As more mHealth apps are being developed and deployed, more usability tests will be required to ensure that they are fit for purpose. The paper provides a baseline for developing related health information apps. Policymakers, health practitioners, technologists, and scholars can further investigate the deployment of digital technologies to improve healthcare and control the transmission and spread of COVID-19.