Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34380197›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of health policy and management2022

Accommodate or Reject: The Role of Local Communities in the Retention of Health Workers in Rural Tanzania.

Nathanael Sirili, Daudi Simba, Joseph M Zulu, Gasto Frumence, Moses Tetui

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of health policy and management, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
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

5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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

5 authors at 3 institutions in 5 countries.

Nathanael SiriliDepartment of Development Studies, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.ORCID 0000-0001-5205-624X
Daudi SimbaDepartment of Community, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Joseph M ZuluSchool of Public Health, University of Zambia (UNZA), Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0003-1480-4977
Gasto FrumenceDepartment of Development Studies, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.ORCID 0000-0003-4605-9457
Moses TetuiSchool of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-6833-7601
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences · TZUniversity of Waterloo · CAUniversity of Zambia · ZM

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWhile over 70% of the population in Tanzania reside in rural areas, only 25% of physicians and 55% of nurses serve these areas. Tanzania operates a decentralised health system which aims to bring health services closer to its people through collaborative citizen efforts. While community engagement was intended as a mechanism to support the retention of the health workforce in rural areas, the reality on the ground does not always match this ideal. This study explored the role local communities in the retention of health workers in rural Tanzania.

methodsAn exploratory qualitative study was completed in two rural districts from the Kilimanjaro and Lindi regions in Tanzania between August 2015 and September 2016. Nineteen key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with district health managers, local government leaders, and health facility in-charges. In addition, three focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 19 members of the governing committees of three health facilities from the two districts. Data were analysed using the thematic analysis technique.

resultsAccommodation or rejection were the two major ways in which local communities influenced the quest for retaining health workers. Communities accommodated incoming health workers by providing them a good reception, assuming responsibility for resolving challenges facing health facilities and health workers, linking health workers to local communities and promoting practices that placed a high value on health workers. On the flip side, communities could also reject health workers by openly expressing lack of trust and labelling them as 'foreigners,' by practicing cultural rituals that health workers feared and discrimination based on cultural differences.

conclusionFostering good relationships between local communities and health workers may be as important as incentives and other health system strategies for the retention of health workers in rural areas. The role communities play in rural health worker retention is not sufficiently recognized and is worthy of further research.

Indexed as

Health WorkforceRural Health ServicesFocus GroupsHealth PersonnelHumansRural PopulationTanzaniaCommunityHealth Workforce RetentionPrimary Health CareRuralTanzania

Identifiers

PMID34380197
PMCPMC9278396
OpenAlexW3184407575

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.