Abstract:

Globally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of death and disabilities, accounting for 41million deaths annually, 1 with 77% occurring in low-income and middle-income countries including Malaysia. If current trends continue, the estimated cumulative deaths from NCDs will reach 52 million by 2030. IoT is considered as a revolution in health care both in terms of NCD patient treatment and health information management. However, e- readiness for health promotion and preventive interventions, provision of palliative care, screening, identification of risk factors, self-management and health education have remained under-investigated and of less priority. An extensive investigation of community characteristics and associated factors may be necessary for establishing a well-functioning and more responsive health system to respond to NCDs in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to accentuate the significance of e-readiness among elderly NCD patients in Malaysia for IoT adoption which can facilitate the implementation of knowledge management systems (KMS) in healthcare centres. This can be a step forward to turning NCD patients into digital citizens who use information and communication technology to engage in society. This would ultimately complement in achieving SDG goals for developing countries like Malaysia need to collect and use meaningful information to lead the way for a cost-effective means to organize national health information systems to use routinely collected NCD patients’ digital data to support health care planning, delivery, evaluation and clinical re-design to iteratively improve the process and impacts of integrated people-centred health services though successful implementation of knowledge management system in the future.