ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2020
The paediatrician workforce and its role in addressing neonatal, child and adolescent healthcare in Kenya.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 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
16 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
- Pairwise joint modeling of clustered and high-dimensional outcomes with covariate missingness in pediatric pneumonia care.Pharmaceutical statistics · 2022Trial
- Reducing maternal, neonatal, and child mortality and improving quality of health care through a national task-shifting program for public hospitals in Liberia.Human resources for health · 2025Review
- 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
- Public service motivation, public sector preference and employment of Kenyan medical doctor interns: a cross-sectional and prospective study.Human resources for health · 2024Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of a novel biomedical device to prevent neonatal hypothermia and augment Kangaroo Mother Care in Kenya: Qualitative analysis of focus group discussions and key Informant Interviews.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- The NeoRoo mobile app: Initial design and prototyping of an Android-based digital health tool to support Kangaroo Mother Care in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).PLOS digital health · 2023Article
- Examining the absorption of post-internship medical officers into the public sector at county-level in devolved Kenya: a qualitative case study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Improving facility-based care: eliciting tacit knowledge to advance intervention design.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Evaluation of an audit and feedback intervention to reduce gentamicin prescription errors in newborn treatment (ReGENT) in neonatal inpatient care in Kenya: a controlled interrupted time series study protocol.Implementation science : IS · 2022Article
- Article
- Geospatial mapping of timely access to inpatient neonatal care and its relationship to neonatal mortality in Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Task-sharing to support paediatric and child health service delivery in low- and middle-income countries: current practice and a scoping review of emerging opportunities.Human resources for health · 2021Article
- Neonatal mortality in Kenyan hospitals: a multisite, retrospective, cohort study.BMJ global health · 2021Article
- Employing learning health system principles to advance research on severe neonatal and paediatric illness in Kenya.BMJ global health · 2021Review
- Programme theory and linked intervention strategy for large-scale change to improve hospital care in a low and middle-income country - A Study Pre-Protocol.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the availability of paediatricians in Kenya and plans for their development.
designReview of policies and data from multiple sources combined with local expert insight.
settingKenya with a focus on the public, non-tertiary care sector as an example of a low-income and middle-income country aiming to improve the survival and long-term health of newborns, children and adolescents.
resultsThere are 305 practising paediatricians, 1.33 per 100 000 individuals of the population aged <19 years which in total numbers approximately 25 million. Only 94 are in public sector, non-tertiary county hospitals. There is either no paediatrician at all or only one paediatrician in 21/47 Kenyan counties that are home to over a quarter of a million under 19 years of age. Government policy is to achieve employment of 1416 paediatricians in the public sector by 2030, however this remains aspirational as there is no comprehensive training or financing plan to reach this target and health workforce recruitment, financing and management is now devolved to 47 counties. The vast majority of paediatric care is therefore provided by non-specialist healthcare workers. DISCUSSION: The scale of the paediatric workforce challenge seriously undermines the ability of the Kenyan health system to deliver on the emerging survive, thrive and transform agenda that encompasses more complex health needs. Addressing this challenge may require innovative workforce solutions such as task-sharing, these may in turn require the role of paediatricians to be redefined. Professional paediatric communities in countries like Kenya could play a leadership role in developing such solutions.
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