ArticleHealth research policy and systems2017
Operations research in global health: a scoping review with a focus on the themes of health equity and impact.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Markov models for clinical decision-making in radiation oncology: A systematic review.Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Building Capacity in Institutional Operational Research in Low-Resource Settings: Protocol for an Implementation Research Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Addressing global health equity through Global Collaborative Evidence Networks: a narrative literature review of governance models, power and participation.Globalization and health · 2026Review
- Using operational research as a tool to improve eye health services and systems in low-and middle-income settings: lessons from India and Nepal.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Co-creation of a gender responsive TB intervention in Nigeria: a researcher-led collaborative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Article
- Physical-medical integration policies and health equity promotion in China: a text analysis based on policy instruments.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Impact of targeted drug administration and intermittent preventive treatment for forest goers using artesunate-pyronaridine to control malaria outbreaks in Cambodia.Tropical medicine and health · 2024Article
- Article
- Expanding the roles of community health workers to sustain programmes during malaria elimination: a meeting report on operational research in Southeast Asia.Malaria journal · 2024Article
- An operations research approach to automated patient scheduling for eye care using a multi-criteria decision support tool.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mind the gap: a review of optimisation in mental healthcare service delivery.Health systems (Basingstoke, England) · 2023Review
- Applying Discrete Event Simulation to Reduce Patient Wait Times and Crowding: The Case of a Specialist Outpatient Clinic with Dual Practice System.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Building local capacity in operational research: a case study in Nepal and India.Community eye health · 2022Article
- "What's the evidence?"-Towards more empirical evaluations of the impact of OR interventions in healthcare.Health systems (Basingstoke, England) · 2022Article
- A qualitative model of the HIV care continuum in Vancouver, Canada.Health systems (Basingstoke, England) · 2022Article
- Pharmacogenomics driven decision support prototype with machine learning: A framework for improving patient care.Frontiers in big data · 2022Article
- Effects of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in South Africa across different drinker groups and wealth quintiles: a modelling study.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Operational research: A multidisciplinary approach for the management of infectious disease in a global context.European journal of operational research · 2021Article
- Radiotherapy treatment scheduling: Implementing operations research into clinical practice.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOperations research (OR) is a discipline that uses advanced analytical methods (e.g. simulation, optimisation, decision analysis) to better understand complex systems and aid in decision-making. Herein, we present a scoping review of the use of OR to analyse issues in global health, with an emphasis on health equity and research impact. A systematic search of five databases was designed to identify relevant published literature. A global overview of 1099 studies highlights the geographic distribution of OR and common OR methods used. From this collection of literature, a narrative description of the use of OR across four main application areas of global health - health systems and operations, clinical medicine, public health and health innovation - is also presented. The theme of health equity is then explored in detail through a subset of 44 studies. Health equity is a critical element of global health that cuts across all four application areas, and is an issue particularly amenable to analysis through OR. Finally, we present seven select cases of OR analyses that have been implemented or have influenced decision-making in global health policy or practice. Based on these cases, we identify three key drivers for success in bridging the gap between OR and global health policy, namely international collaboration with stakeholders, use of contextually appropriate data, and varied communication outlets for research findings. Such cases, however, represent a very small proportion of the literature found.
conclusionPoor availability of representative and quality data, and a lack of collaboration between those who develop OR models and stakeholders in the contexts where OR analyses are intended to serve, were found to be common challenges for effective OR modelling in global health.
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Registered trials
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.