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Digital Health Foundations

How health information systems, mHealth, data standards and data protection fit together.

Beginner English Joseph M. Lamin Updated Nov 2026

What you will be able to do

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Explain what digital health and health information systems are
  • Describe how routine health data flows from facility to national level
  • Recognise key data standards such as ICD, HL7 FHIR and LOINC
  • Compare mHealth and telemedicine approaches and their limits
  • Assess data quality using standard dimensions
  • Apply basic principles of privacy, security and consent

Course content

4 sections · 12 lessons · 2 h 48 min total · lessons open when you enrol

Introduction to digital health3 lessons · 26 min
What is digital health? 8 min
How routine health data flows 12 min
Quiz: digital health basics 6 min
Standards and interoperability3 lessons · 28 min
Health data standards 12 min
Interoperability 10 min
Quiz: standards 6 min
mHealth and telemedicine2 lessons · 22 min
mHealth in practice 12 min
Telemedicine 10 min
Data quality, privacy and ethics4 lessons · 1 h 32 min
Data quality dimensions 12 min
Privacy, security and consent 12 min
Quiz: data quality and privacy 8 min
Final task: assess a digital health tool 60 min

About this course

Digital tools are now part of everyday health work — from monthly reports in DHIS2 to electronic medical records, SMS reminders and teleconsultation. This course gives health workers, students and managers a clear, practical foundation: what the main systems are, how they share data, what makes data trustworthy, and how to protect patients' privacy.

No technical background is needed. Each module ends with a short quiz, and the final task asks you to assess a digital health tool used in your own setting.

Requirements

  • No technical background needed
  • Experience in, or interest in, the health sector

Who this course is for

  • Nurses, CHOs, M&E and data officers
  • Public health and health informatics students
  • Health programme managers

Your instructor

JL
Joseph M. Lamin

Software developer and health-informatics researcher based in Bo, Sierra Leone. Teaches and supervises research at Njala University School of Public Health and builds health, school and business information systems.

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