ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Ethical Digital Health
This article is part of the Research TopicDigital Health Past, Present, and FutureView all 37 articles
FOUNDATIONAL DIGITAL LITERACY TRAINING FOR FRONTLINE IMMUNIZATION OFFICERS: LESSONS FROM IMPLEMENTING THE ELECTRONIC STOCK MANAGEMENT TOOL IN COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTERS IN SIERRA LEONE
Provisionally accepted
Iniobong Ekong1,2*
Tom Sesay1
Regina Samuels1Edward Foday1Francis Smart1Agazi Ameha2Vandana Joshi2
Alhassan Mayei3Tessa Lennemann3- 1Ministry of Health,Directorate of Policy,Planning and Information, Government of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
- 2United Nations Children's Fund, Freetown, Sierra Leone
- 3GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Freetown, Sierra Leone
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Background: Sierra Leone has advanced its digital health agenda. However, digital literacy among frontline health workers remains low, with over 82 % reporting limited confidence in using digital tools. The health workforce also recorded the lowest digital health maturity score among all enablers in the WHO Global Digital Health Monitor, underscoring the need for workforce upskilling as a foundation for digital transformation. Objective: This paper describes the design, implementation, and outcomes of a foundational digital literacy training program for frontline health workers under the Digital Innovation in Pandemic Control (DIPC) project, aimed at improving readiness for digital tool adoption. Methods: A training needs analysis (TNA) aligned skill gaps with the competencies required for using the electronic Stock Management Tool (eSMT). Training modules were adapted from the European Commission's DigComp framework, contextualized for Sierra Leone, and delivered through a blended learning model. Post-training competency gains were assessed to determine effectiveness. Results (Implementation): Among 150 trained health workers, "high understanding" in basic computer literacy increased from 7.1 % to 72.2 %, while "low understanding" dropped from 65.9 % to 9.2 %. For computer troubleshooting skills, "high understanding" rose from 4.4 % to 73.8 %. Both courses showed large effect sizes (Cohen's d = 1.3– 2.1), indicating substantial learning gains. Conclusions: Systematic digital literacy training, grounded in competency frameworks and contextual design, can substantially improve digital readiness among frontline health workers. Such interventions are essential foundations for sustainable digital transformation in health systems.
Keywords: Digital Literacy, Training needs analysis, competency framework, digitalization, e-readiness, digital transformation
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ekong, Sesay, Samuels, Foday, Smart, Ameha, Joshi, Mayei and Lennemann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Iniobong Ekong, inijust@yahoo.co.uk
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