ReviewGlobal health action2022
Lessons from community participation in primary health care and water resource governance in South Africa: a narrative review.
Review in Global health action, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Community-Based Health Information Systems in Africa: A Scoping Review of Data Generation, Utilization, and Community Empowerment.Wellcome open research · 2024Pooled it
- Assessing existing infection prevention and control measures used by nurses in water-scarce healthcare in a global setting: A scoping review.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2026Article
- The impact of strengthened ward development committees on utilisation of reproductive maternal and child health services in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Learning sites for health systems research: Reflections on five programs in Africa, Asia, and Central America.Learning health systems · 2025Article
- Health system governance for injury care in low- and middle-income countries: a survey of policymakers and policy implementors.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Has stakeholder participation in health facility governing committees promoted social accountability? A qualitative study in Tanzania.Global health action · 2024Article
- Core Principles and Practices for the Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Social and Behavior Change for Nutrition in Low- and Middle-Income Contexts with Special Applications for Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture.Current developments in nutrition · 2024Review
- Integrative and syntactic complexity's role in decision-making under uncertainty.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Successes, weaknesses, and recommendations to strengthen primary health care: a scoping review.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
- Realising radical potential: building community power in primary health care through Participatory Action Research.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Health managers and community representatives' views of a system-wide intervention to strengthen public healthcare in the Free State, South Africa.African health sciences · 2023Article
- Community engagement initiatives in primary health care to achieve universal health coverage: A realist synthesis of scoping review.PloS one · 2023Article
- Strengthening the community governance of healthcare services in 'fragile' settings: Evidence from Burundi and South Kivu, DR Congo.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Addressing coloniality of power to improve HIV care in South Africa and other LMIC.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2023Article
- Community engagement in health services research on soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Asia Pacific region: Systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Participatory action research to address lack of safe water, a community-nominated health priority in rural South Africa.PloS one · 2023Article
- 'Voice needs teeth to have bite'! Expanding community-led multisectoral action-learning to address alcohol and drug abuse in rural South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn South Africa, community participation has been embraced through the development of progressive policies to address past inequities. However, limited information is available to understand community involvement in priority setting, planning and decision-making in the development and implementation of public services.
objectiveThis narrative review aims to provide evidence on forms, extents, contexts and dynamics of community participation in primary health care (PHC) and water governance in South Africa and draw cross-cutting lessons. This paper focuses on health and water governance structures, such as health committees, Catchment Management Agencies (CMA), Water User Associations (WUAs), Irrigation Boards (IBs) and Community Management Forums (CMFs).
methodsArticles were sourced from Medline (Ovid), EMBASE, Google Scholar, Web of Science, WHO Global Health Library, Global Health and Science Citation Index between 1994 and 2020 reporting on community participation in health and water governance in South Africa. Databases were searched using key terms to identify relevant research articles and grey literature. Twenty-one articles were included and analysed thematically.
resultsThere is limited evidence on how health committees are functioning in all provinces in South Africa. Existing evidence shows that health committees are not functioning effectively due to lack of clarity on roles, autonomy, power, support, and capacity. There was slow progress in establishment of water governance structures, although these are autonomous and have mechanisms for democratic control, unlike health committees. Participation in CMAs/WUAs/IBs/CMFs is also not effective due to manipulation of spaces by elites, lack of capacity of previously disadvantaged individuals, inadequate incentives, and low commitment to the process by stakeholders.
conclusionPower and authority in decision-making, resources and accountability are key for effective community participation of marginalized people. Practical guidance is urgently required on how mandated participatory governance structures can be sustained and linked to wider governance systems to improve service delivery.
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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.