Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23921987›Full record

SynthesisHealth policy and planning2014

Health impact of external funding for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria: systematic review.

Thyra E de Jongh, Joanne H Harnmeijer, Rifat Atun, Eline L Korenromp, Jinkou Zhao, John Puvimanasinghe, Rob Baltussen

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Health policy and planning, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Advance Warning and Response Systems in Kenya: A Scoping Review.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Thyra E de JonghGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands thyra.dejongh@gephyra.nl.
Joanne H HarnmeijerGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Rifat AtunGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Eline L KorenrompGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Jinkou ZhaoGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
John PuvimanasingheGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Rob BaltussenGephyra IHC, Laing's Nekstraat 39-1, 1092 GT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ETC Crystal, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London, UK, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China, The Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland and Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSince 2002, development assistance for health has substantially increased, especially investments for HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria control. We undertook a systematic review to assess and synthesize the existing evidence in the scientific literature on the health impacts of these investments. METHODS AND

findingsWe systematically searched databases for peer-reviewed and grey literature, using tailored search strategies. We screened studies for study design and relevance, using predefined inclusion criteria, and selected those that enabled us to link health outcomes or impact to increased external funding. For all included studies, we recorded dataset and study characteristics, health outcomes and impacts. We analysed the data using a causal-chain framework to develop a narrative summary of the published evidence. Thirteen articles, representing 11 individual studies set in Africa and Asia reporting impacts on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, met the inclusion criteria. Only two of these studies documented the entire causal-chain spanning from funding to programme scale-up, to outputs, outcomes and impacts. Nonetheless, overall we find a positive correlation between consecutive steps in the causal chain, suggesting that external funds for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programmes contributed to improved health outcomes and impact.

conclusionsDespite the large number of supported programmes worldwide and despite an abundance of published studies on HIV, TB and malaria control, we identified very few eligible studies that adequately demonstrated the full process by which external funding has been translated to health impact. Most of these studies did not move beyond demonstrating statistical association, as opposed to contribution or causation. We thus recommend that funding organizations and researchers increase the emphasis on ensuring data capture along the causal pathway to demonstrate effect and contribution of external financing. The findings of these comprehensive and rigorously conducted impact evaluations should also be made publicly accessible.

Indexed as

Financial SupportAfricaAsiaDeveloping CountriesFemaleHIV InfectionsHumansMalariaOutcome Assessment, Health CarePregnancyPregnancy Complications, InfectiousTuberculosisAfricaAsiadeveloping countriesdonorsHealth financinghealth outcomesimpact

Identifiers

PMID23921987
PMCPMC4124244

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.