SynthesisBMJ global health2021
Conference equity in global health: a systematic review of factors impacting LMIC representation at global health conferences.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Structural biases in digital health intervention and health equity research: a bibliometric knowledge graph analysis (2015-2025).Frontiers in digital health · 2026Pooled it
- Catalysing global surgery: a meta-research study on factors affecting surgical research collaborations with Africa.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Authorship representation in global emergency medicine: a bibliometric analysis from 2016 to 2020.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- When the messenger is more important than the message: an experimental study of evidence use in francophone Africa.Health research policy and systems · 2022Trial
- Participation in Sleep Europe Conferences: Insights From Early Career Professionals.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Towards a more inclusive psychiatry: diversity among presenters and participants in the 25th World Congress of Psychiatry.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- From Initiative to Influence: The Impact of ICHR on Pakistan's Health Research Ecosystem (2023-2025).Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Advancing health research practices among forcibly displaced populations: A multidisciplinary stakeholder workshop.Health research policy and systems · 2026Article
- Gender and income disparities in World Psychiatry Congress participation (2023-2024).Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Beyond paper walls: From diagnosis to action on visa inequities in global health.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Diplomatic monocultures in public health diplomacy: a narrative review on conference equity, participation and visibility.Public health reviews · 2026Review
- Establishing criteria and distributing conference grants for participants from the Global South: experiences from the Canadian Conference on Global Health 2024.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- The landscape of public-private partnerships in global health governance: introducing a new dataset.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- The landscape of public-private partnerships in global health governance: introducing a new dataset.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- A national cross-sectional study on research opportunities and barriers among medical students in Nigeria, with recommendations.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Barriers to global engagement for African researchers: A position paper from the Alliance for Medical Research in Africa (AMedRA).Journal of global health · 2024Article
- The Field of Neurosurgery in Kenya: Challenges Faced by Early Career Researchers and Recommendations.Neurosurgical review · 2024Article
- Building a framework to decolonize global emergency medicine.AEM education and training · 2024Article
- Unheard voices speak up: the Arabidopsis community and the representation of researchers from the Global South.Journal of experimental botany · 2024Article
- Citizenship privilege harms science.Nature · 2024Article
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
introductionGlobal health conferences are important platforms for knowledge exchange, decision-making and personal and professional growth for attendees. Neocolonial patterns in global health at large and recent opinion reports indicate that stakeholders from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be under-represented at such conferences. This study aims to describe the factors that impact LMIC representation at global health conferences.
methodsA systematic review of articles reporting factors determining global health conference attendance was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Articles presenting conference demographics and data on the barriers and/or facilitators to attendance were included. Articles were screened at title and abstract level by four independent reviewers. Eligible articles were read in full text, analysed and evaluated with a risk of bias assessment.
resultsAmong 8765 articles screened, 46 articles met inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis yielded two themes: 'barriers to conference attendance' and 'facilitators to conference attendance'. In total, 112 conferences with 254 601 attendees were described, of which 4% of the conferences were hosted in low-income countries. Of the 98 302 conference attendees, for whom affiliation was disclosed, 38 167 (39%) were from LMICs.
conclusion'Conference inequity' is common in global health, with LMIC attendees under-represented at global health conferences. LMIC attendance is limited by systemic barriers including high travel costs, visa restrictions and lower acceptance rates for research presentations. This may be mitigated by relocating conferences to visa-friendly countries, providing travel scholarships and developing mentorship programmes to enable LMIC researchers to participate in global conferences.
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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.