ReviewAfrican journal of primary health care & family medicine2024
Family practice research in the African region 2020-2022.
Review in African journal of primary health care & family medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- South African family medicine research: Past, present and future.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2026Article
- Building the next generation of family medicine and primary health care researchers in Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- From dreamers to doers: Navigating the doctoral journey in family medicine and primary care.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Clinical trial methods for family medicine and primary care.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Democratising clinical trials research to strengthen primary health care.The Lancet. Global health · 2025Review
- Strengthening clinical trials in African primary care.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Article
- Identifying research gaps and priorities for African family medicine and primary health care.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 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
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe African region produces a small proportion of all health research, including primary health care research. The SCOPUS database only lists the African Journal of Primary Health Care Family Medicine (PHCFM) and the South African Family Practice Journal (SAFP) in the field of family practice.
aimTo review the nature of all original research (2020-2022) published in PHCFM and SAFP.
settingAfrican region.
methodAll 327 articles were included. Data were extracted into REDCap, using a standardised tool and exported to the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
resultsThe median number of authors was 3 (interquartile range [IQR]: 2-4) and institutions and disciplines 1 (IQR: 1-2). Most authors were from South Africa (79.8%) and family medicine (45.3%) or public health (34.2%). Research focused on integrated health services (76.1%) and was mostly clinical (66.1%) or service delivery (37.9%). Clinical research addressed infectious diseases (23.4%), non-communicable diseases (24.6%) and maternal and women's health (19.4%). Service delivery research addressed the core functions of primary care (35.8%), particularly person-centredness and comprehensiveness. Research targeted adults and older adults (77.0%) as well as health promotion or disease prevention (38.5%) and treatment (30.9%). Almost all research was descriptive (73.7%), mostly surveys.
conclusionFuture research should include community empowerment and multisectoral action. Within integrated health services, some areas need more attention, for example, children, palliative and rehabilitative care, continuity and coordination. Capacity building and support should enable larger, less-descriptive and more collaborative interdisciplinary studies with authors outside of South Africa.Contribution: The results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of family practice research in Africa.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.