ReviewHealth research policy and systems2017
Travelling models and the challenge of pragmatic contexts and practical norms: the case of maternal health.
Review 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 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- How and why do women's groups (WGs) improve the quality of maternal and child health (MCH) care? A systematic review of the literature.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Provision and uptake of routine antenatal services: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Identifying the 'real cause of death': the complexities of maternal death reviews in Tanzania.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Article
- The richness of urban health realities lost in measurement monocultures.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Time for change in implementation research and practice.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- "As it is about that, they do as they please": Women's experience of the accessibility and acceptability of postabortion care in Kaya, Burkina Faso.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Healthcare workers' beliefs, practices and experiences regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting governance from preparedness and response plans in Faranah, Guinea.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Integrated surveillance systems for antibiotic resistance in a One Health context: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Travelling numbers and broken loops: A qualitative systematic review on collecting and reporting maternal and neonatal health data in low-and lower-middle income countries.SSM - population health · 2024Review
- Translating global evidence into local implementation through technical assistance: a realist evaluation of the Bloomberg philanthropies initiative for global Road safety.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of a multi-country implementation-focused network on quality of care: Delivery of interventions and processes for improved maternal, newborn and child health outcomes.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- How to evaluate a multi-country implementation-focused network: Reflections from the Quality of Care Network (QCN) evaluation.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Factors shaping network emergence: A cross-country comparison of quality of care networks in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Towards renewed commitment to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity: learning from 30 years of maternal health priorities.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Article
- What made primary health care resilient against COVID-19? A mixed-methods positive deviance study in Nigeria.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Exploring the complex realities of nursing work in Kenya and how this shapes role enactment and practice-A qualitative study.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Service delivery redesign is a process, not a model of care.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- A critical interpretive synthesis of power and mistreatment of women in maternity care.PLOS global public health · 2023Review
- The resilience of two departmental health insurance units during the COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal.BMJ global health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As in other areas of international development, we are witnessing the proliferation of 'traveling models' developed by international experts and introduced in an almost identical format across numerous countries to improve some aspect of maternal health systems in low- and middle-income countries. These policies and protocols are based on 'miracle mechanisms' that have been taken out of their original context but are believed to be intrinsically effective in light of their operational devices.In reality, standardised interventions are, in Africa and elsewhere, confronted with pragmatic implementation contexts that are always varied and specific, and which lead to drifts, distortions, dismemberments and bypasses. The partogram, focused antenatal care, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV or performance-based payment all illustrate these implementation gaps, often caused by the routine behaviour of health personnel who follow practical norms (and a professional culture) that are often distinct from official norms - as is the case with midwives.Experiences in maternal and child health in Africa suggest that an alternative approach would be to start with the daily reality of social and practical norms instead of relying on models, and to promote innovations that emerge from within local health systems.
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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.