ReviewBulletin of the World Health Organization2019
Health workers' strikes in low-income countries: the available evidence.
Review in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Impacts of industrial actions, protests, strikes and lockouts by health and care workers during COVID-19 and other pandemic contexts: a systematic review.Human resources for health · 2024Pooled it
- Strikes of physicians and other health care workers in sub-Saharan African countries: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of supervision on community health workers' effectiveness with households in rural South Africa: A cluster randomized controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2023Trial
- Claiming justice in the health sector of Nepal: Exploring causes and consequences of protests among health care workers.Dialogues in health · 2025Article
- Physicians' Collective Actions in Response to Government Health Policies: A Scoping Review.Journal of Korean medical science · 2025Article
- Health Worker Protests in Canada: A Descriptive Analysis of Protest Events From 2021-2022.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2025Article
- Do cash or digital payment modalities affect community health worker performance? - a case study of a remote refugee settlement in Western Uganda.Global health action · 2024Article
- A look back at the strike by Mozambican doctors in 2013: what can we learn?BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Health worker protests and the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time-series analysis.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2024Article
- Public-Private engagement and health systems resilience in times of health worker strikes: a Ghanaian case study.Health policy and planning · 2024Article
- Article
- Updating Reproduction Number Estimates for Mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo Using Surveillance Data.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Income insecurity and social protection: Examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across income groups.PloS one · 2024Article
- Impact of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology residency training on increasing access to specialty care workforce.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Factors associated with vaccine coverage improvements in Senegal between 2005 and 2019: a quantitative retrospective analysis.BMJ open · 2023Article
- A small area model to assess temporal trends and sub-national disparities in healthcare quality.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Task Shifting and Task Sharing Implementation in Africa: A Scoping Review on Rationale and Scope.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Contract doctors' strike in Malaysia: A content analysis of the perception of medical fraternity and stakeholders on Facebook.PloS one · 2023Article
- Exploring the impact of health worker strikes on maternal and child health in a Kenyan county.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice towards Occupational Health and Safety among Nursing Students in Gaza Strip, Palestine.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo analyse the characteristics, frequency, drivers, outcomes and stakeholders of health workers' strikes in low-income countries.
methodsWe reviewed the published and grey literature from online sources for the years 2009 to 2018. We used four search strategies: (i) exploration of main health and social sciences databases; (ii) use of specialized websites on human resources for health and development; (iii) customized Google search; and (iv) consultation with experts to validate findings. To analyse individual strike episodes, pre-existing conditions and influencing actors, we developed a conceptual framework from the literature.
resultsWe identified 116 records reporting on 70 unique health workers' strikes in 23 low-income countries during the period, accounting for 875 days of strike. Year 2018 had the highest number of events (17), corresponding to 170 work days lost. Strikes involving more than one professional category was the frequent strike modality (32 events), followed by strikes by physicians only (22 events). The most commonly reported cause was complaints about remuneration (63 events), followed by protest against the sector's governance or policies (25 events) and safety of working conditions (10 events). Positive resolution was achieved more often when collective bargaining institutions and higher levels of government were involved in the negotiations.
conclusionIn low-income countries, some common features appear to exist in health sector strikes' occurrence and actors involved in such events. Future research should focus on both individual events and regional patterns, to form an evidence base for mechanisms to prevent and resolve strikes.
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