Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Intelligent Secure 5G and Beyond Digital Health Testbed for Digital Health Applications and Services in Africa

The need for novel digital health applications and services has prompted the re-evaluation of Africa's mobile network infrastructure. The introduction of the fifth generation and beyond networks allows researchers to leverage digital health applications to solve the most pressing health challenges on the continent. This growth in innovations calls for the need for a launchpad platform for such technologies. This paper argues the need for Africa to have its own 5G and beyond digital health testbeds. The paper further proposes the design of a testbed that uses readily available open-source technologies in its implementation. The layers of the communication systems in relevant domains, namely: the data acquisition, access network, core network and data retrieval domains, are presented. A proposal for managing the security and privacy aspects of medical data through Blockchain and X-Road technologies is also outlined. In closing, the paper discusses the potential of deploying 5G-powered private networks in hospitals.