ReviewBMJ global health2020
Strengthening medical specialisation policy in low-income and middle-income countries.
Review in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Medical specialists in LMICs: a systematic review and best-fit framework synthesis of the evidence on their roles and contribution to health systems.BMJ global health · 2026Pooled it
- Transforming healthcare: evaluating a decade of postgraduate training at the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons.Human resources for health · 2026Article
- AWaRe antibiotic prescribing for common acute infections in private primary care in low-middle-income countries: a patient-level analysis using IQVIA prescriber surveys from Pakistan, Egypt and Indonesia.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Article
- Trends in the burden of road traffic injuries among children and adolescents aged 0-19 years in low- and middle-income countries, 1990-2023.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Teleophthalmology adoption and perceived barriers among Colombian general practitioners: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Population Growth and the Urology Workforce in West Java, Indonesia: A Distribution and Projection Study.Research and reports in urology · 2026Article
- What drives Malaysian medical students' specialty choices? Findings from the MMSCI study.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Engineered Living Systems Based on Gelatin: Design, Manufacturing, and Applications.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Review
- Choosing the Path: Insights Into Zambian Medical Students' Specialty Selections.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Commentary: From education to exploitation: the high price paid by resident physicians in Ecuador's medical specialization.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal trends of ischemic stroke burden attributable to PM2.5 from 1990 to 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Roles of medical, nursing and clinical specialists in selected African health systems: a document review of numbers, norms, training and scope of practices.Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Multidisciplinary care meeting practices across diverse international settings.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Bridging the knowledge gap! Health outcomes in informal e-waste workers.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2024Review
- Implementing care for women with gestational diabetes after delivery-the challenges ahead.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Review
- Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward advanced precision radiotherapy among patients with head and neck cancer.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Building Consensus on the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Skills Required for Effective Healthcare Service Delivery at District Hospitals in South Africa: A Delphi Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Going Back Home: Understanding Physician Migration to the United States.JCO global oncology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The availability of medical specialists has accelerated in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), driven by factors including epidemiological and demographic shifts, doctors' preferences for postgraduate training, income growth and medical tourism. Yet, despite some policy efforts to increase access to specialists in rural health facilities and improve referral systems, many policy questions are still underaddressed or unaddressed in LMIC health sectors, including in the context of universal health coverage. Engaging with issues of specialisation may appear to be of secondary importance, compared with arguably more pressing concerns regarding primary care and the social determinants of health. However, we believe this to be a false choice. Policy at the intersection of essential health services and medical specialties is central to issues of access and equity, and failure to formulate policy in this regard may have adverse ramifications for the entire system. In this article, we describe three critical policy questions on medical specialties and health systems with the aim of provoking further analysis, discussion and policy formulation: (1) What types, and how many specialists to train? (2) How to link specialists' production and deployment to health systems strengthening and population health? (3) How to develop and strengthen institutions to steer specialisation policy? We posit that further analysis, discussion and policy formulation addressing these questions presents an important opportunity to explicitly determine and strengthen the linkages between specialists, health systems and health equity.
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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.