ReviewHealth science reports2020
Recruitment and retention strategies, policies, and their barriers: A narrative review in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Review in Health science reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Health-care worker retention in post-conflict settings: a systematic literature review.Health policy and planning · 2023Pooled it
- Attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry in Eastern Mediterranean Region: A systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Article
- Navigating turbulence: analyzing the resilience of Lebanon's healthcare system in a multi-crisis scenario.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Exporting Expertise: The Emigration of Graduating Radiology Residents From Lebanon Amid Crisis.Journal of graduate medical education · 2025Article
- Human resource development in public health emergency management: a scoping review.BMJ public health · 2025Review
- Retention strategies for medical doctors in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): are they effective? A scoping review.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Overview of Retention Strategies for Medical Doctors in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Their Effectiveness: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Role of hospitals in recovery from COVID-19: Reflections from hospital managers and frontliners in the Eastern Mediterranean Region on strengthening hospital resilience.Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
- Hospitals early challenges and interventions combatting COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.PloS one · 2022Article
- Recruitment and retention strategies, policies, and their barriers: A narrative review in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.Health science reports · 2020Review
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
backgroundUnderstanding factors affecting recruitment and retention of health workers in rural and remote communities is necessary for proper policy development and the equitable achievement of Universal Health Coverage.
aimReview and synthesize the literature on interventions used to retain health workforce in rural and remote areas by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).
methodWe carried out a narrative review of literature (peer-reviewed and gray) on the distribution and retention of health workers in rural and remote areas in the LMICs of the EMR. Out of the 130 retrieved articles, 21 met the inclusion criteria and were studied using WHO's Global Recommendations For Increasing Access To Health Workers In Remote And Rural Areas Through Improved Retention (education, regulation, financial, and personal/professional) as the analytical framework for extractions.
resultsThere is a dearth of literature on retention in rural areas in the EMR and a complete absence of evaluation studies for implemented intervention. Various LMICs in the EMR have implemented interventions across one or more of the WHO four categories, especially educational and regulatory interventions. Limitations in the number and quality of published studies, fragmented data, over-representation of certain cadres in research and policies, and poor governance were chief barriers to the design, implementation, and evaluation of health workforce retention policies in rural and remote areas. The main challenges for EMR countries are in policy implementation and evaluation. Strengthening data governance and health information systems would improve evidence-based policies and enhance retention in rural and remote areas.
conclusionsThere is a need for a focused research agenda supported by regional collaboration to guide policymakers on factors, challenges, and best practices that need to be considered for improving the distribution and retention of the health workforce by cadre, gender, and region.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.