Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32426420›Full record

ReviewHealth services research and managerial epidemiology

Assessing the Efficiency of Health-care Facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.

Tesleem K Babalola, Indres Moodley

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Health services research and managerial epidemiology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Tesleem K BabalolaDepartment of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1568-3134
Indres MoodleyDepartment of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe provision of health-care services is dependent on the effective and efficient functioning of various components of a health-care system. It is therefore important to evaluate the functioning of these various components. Hence, the aim of this study was to review studies on health-care facilities efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with respect to the methodologies used as well as outcomes and factors influencing efficiency.

methodsThe review was conducted through a comprehensive search of electronic databases which included PubMed, Web of science, academic search complete via EBSCOhost, Science Direct, and Google scholar. A search was also conducted by looking into citations in the reference list of selected articles and through gray literature. Studies were screened by examining their titles, abstracts, and full-text based on stated inclusion and exclusion criteria. The concurrent screening and data extraction were conducted by the two authors.

resultsA total of 40 studies were shortlisted for the review. The majority (90.0%) of the studies employed the data envelopment analysis technique for their efficiency measurements. The input and output variables utilized by most of the studies were predominantly human resources and health-related services respectively. The outcome from majority of the studies showed that less than 40% of the studied facilities were efficient. The leading influencing factors reported by the studies were catchment population, facility ownership, and location.

conclusionsThe review showed that there was a marked degree of inefficiency across the health-care facilities. Consequently, due to severe resource constraints facing SSA, there is a need to determine how to use the available resources optimally to improve health systems performance.

Indexed as

efficiencyhealth facilitiessub-Saharan Africasystematic review

Identifiers

PMID32426420
PMCPMC7218466

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.