ReviewConflict and health2020
Mobile clinics in humanitarian emergencies: a systematic review.
Review in Conflict and health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Healthcare services for low-wage migrant workers: A systematic review.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Pooled it
- Innovative technologies to address neglected tropical diseases in African settings with persistent sociopolitical instability.Nature communications · 2024Pooled it
- Community-based surveillance of infectious diseases: a systematic review of drivers of success.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- Mobile health units adapt to COVID-19: Lessons for operations in emergencies and disasters.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Optimizing mobile health clinic placement via geospatial modeling.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- National and Subnational Models of Care That Support Primary Health Care: A Mixed-Methods Study.The International journal of health planning and management · 2026Article
- Challenges and strategies for delivering effective breast cancer care in conflict zones.Communications medicine · 2026Review
- Factors influencing selection of models of primary health care delivery in conflict-affected settings: analysis of surveys from humanitarian organizations in Cameroon and Nigeria.BMC health services research · 2026Observational
- Public health interventions for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in humanitarian emergencies: an overview of systematic reviews.BMC public health · 2026Review
- Development and psychometric evaluation of the post-disaster women's sexual and reproductive health assessment scale.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- The right people, in the right place-assessing the impact of a new outreach model for paediatric neurology specialist services in Myanmar.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Development and Evaluation of a Nurse Competency Assessment System for Public Health Emergencies.Nursing research and practice · 2026Article
- Barriers to accessing and using primary and secondary healthcare among children under-five in the Koutiala health district of Mali.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- No time to wait: resilience as a cornerstone for primary health care across Latin America and the Caribbean, a World Bank-PAHO Lancet Regional Health Americas Commission.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Review
- Enhancing Competencies and Professional Upskilling of Mobile Healthcare Unit Personnel at the Hellenic National Public Health Organization.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Equity of maternal and child health services in Afghanistan: a spatiotemporal analysis of national survey datasets.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Primary healthcare delivery adaptations in war-induced population displacement.Israel journal of health policy research · 2025Observational
- Geospatial analysis and scale-up modelling of the impact of mobile programming on access to essential childhood vaccinations in Yemen.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Beyond the battlefield: strategies for revitalizing Sudan's healthcare system amidst war.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite the widespread reliance on mobile clinics for delivering health services in humanitarian emergencies there is little empirical evidence to support their use. We report a narrative systematic review of the empirical evidence evaluating the use of mobile clinics in humanitarian settings.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, and The Cochrane Library for manuscripts published between 2000 and 2019. We also conducted a grey literature search via Global Health, Open Grey, and the WHO publication database. Empirical studies were included if they reported on at least one of the following evaluation criteria: relevance/appropriateness, connectedness, coherence, coverage, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact.
findingsFive studies met the inclusion criteria: all supported the use of mobile clinics in the particular setting under study. Three studies included controls. Two studies were assessed as good quality. The studies reported on mobile clinics providing non-communicable disease interventions, mental health services, sexual and reproductive health services, and multiple primary health care services in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Haiti, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Studies assessed one or more of the following evaluation domains: relevance/appropriateness, coverage, efficiency, and effectiveness. Four studies made recommendations including: i) ensure that mobile clinics are designed to complement clinic-based services; ii) improve technological tools to support patient follow-up, improve record-keeping, communication, and coordination; iii) avoid labelling services in a way that might stigmatise attendees; iv) strengthen referral to psychosocial and mental health services; v) partner with local providers to leverage resources; and vi) ensure strong coordination to optimise the continuum of care. Recommendations regarding the
conclusionEvidence supporting the use of mobile clinics in humanitarian emergencies is limited. We encourage more studies of the use of mobile clinics in emergency settings.
fundingSalary support for this review was provided under the RECAP project by United Kingdom Research and Innovation as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund, grant number ES/P010873/1.
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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.