ReviewBMJ global health2019
Supportive supervision to improve service delivery in low-income countries: is there a conceptual problem or a strategy problem?
Review in BMJ global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
55 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of participatory approaches to empower health workers in low- and middle-income countries, highlighting Health Workers for Change.International health · 2023Pooled it
- Supportive supervision visits in a large community hypertension programme in Nigeria: implementation methods and outcomes.BMJ open quality · 2025Trial
- Enhancing health professional clinical performance through supervision strategies: from 5311 facilities across eight countries in sick child healthcare.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Healthcare Infrastructure and Resource Barriers to Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Ghana: Insights from a Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Conducting process evaluations of WASH interventions: a scoping review of design approaches and indicators in low- and middle-income countries.Implementation science communications · 2026Article
- Article
- The evolution of supportive supervision in low- and middle-income countries.BMC global and public health · 2026Review
- Understanding the drivers of effective supportive supervision: a realist evaluation of community health worker programs in Madhya Pradesh, India.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Exploring midwifery competence and confidence based on midwives' experiences and stakeholders' insights in Kenya: a descriptive phenomenological approach.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- How, why, and under what circumstances can supportive supervision programs improve malaria case management? A realist program theory.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- A Landscape Analysis of Supportive Supervisory Mechanisms in Maternal and Child Health Programs in India.Cureus · 2025Review
- Implementation status, drivers and barriers to the sick children quality of care improving interventions in the Oromia region, Ethiopia: case study design.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Community service rehabilitation therapists' perspectives of cross-disciplinary supervision.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2025Article
- Readiness to deliver quality curative care for under-five children at health posts in Ethiopia.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Healthcare managers' perspectives on direct health facility financing in Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Addressing challenges for psychotherapy supervision in global mental health through experiential learnings from rural Nepal.Discover public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Structural quality of health facilities to provide family planning services in Ethiopia: Evidence from the 2021-22 Ethiopia Service Provision Assessment survey.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Improving the provision of clinical pharmacy services in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative study in tertiary health facilities in Tanzania.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Coaching visits and supportive supervision for primary care facilities to improve malaria service data quality in Ghana: An intervention case study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Supportive supervision is perceived as an intervention that strengthens the health system, enables health workers to offer quality services and improve performance. Unfortunately, numerous studies show that supervisory mechanisms in many low-income countries (LICs) are suboptimal. Further, the understanding of the concept and its implementation is still shrouded in misinterpretations and inconsistencies. This analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the concept of supportive supervision and how reorganisation of the approach can contribute to improved performance. The effectiveness of supportive supervision is mixed, with some studies noting that evidence on its role, especially in LICs is inconclusive. Quality of care is a core component of universal health coverage which, accentuates the need for supportive supervision. In the context of LICs, it is imperative for supportive supervision to be implemented as an on-going approach. Factors that affect supportive supervision encompass cultural, social, organizational and context dimensions but the capacity of majority of LIC to address these is limited. To this end, we underscore the need to review the supportive supervision approach to improve its effectiveness, and ensure that facility-based supervision embodies as many of the envisioned qualities as possible. We thus make a case for a stronger focus on internal supportive supervision where internal refers to health facility/unit/ward level. Inherent in the approach is what we refer to as 'supervisee initiated supportive supervision'. The success of this approach must be anchored on a strong system for monitoring, data and information management at the health facility level.
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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.