SynthesisFrontiers in public health2024
Interventions on informal healthcare providers to improve the delivery of healthcare services in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Medication safety in older adults in India: an integrative PhD synthesis of direct evidence and contextual implementation evidence.Global health action · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to Optimize Medication Management in Older Adults: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of educational interventions in improving antimicrobial dispensing by community pharmacists: a systematic review.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- A Codesigned Approach to Develop Tailored Antimicrobial Stewardship Strategies in Bangladesh: A Social-Ecological Systems Framework Analysis.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Antibiotic dispensing practices and determinants among informal healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries: a mixed-methods scoping review.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic and geographic inequalities in unmet healthcare needs in Cambodia: evidence from a national cross-sectional study.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Implementation Gaps in Public Outpatient Drug Programs: A Survey of Physicians in Urban Primary Care in Kazakhstan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Informal health care providers in Nigerian slums: perspectives on how to link them with the formal health system.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Disease burden and trends of bladder cancer in the world and BRICS from 1990 to 2021 and its projection until 2036: analysis based on the global burden of disease study 2021.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Institutionalizing linkages between informal healthcare providers and the formal health system in Nigeria: what are the facilitating and constraining contextual influences?Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Health seeking by people living with non-communicable diseases in a pluralistic health system: the role of informal healthcare providers.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Informal healthcare providers (IHCPs) play a big role in health systems in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and are often the first point of contact for healthcare in rural and underserved areas where formal healthcare infrastructure is insufficient or absent. This study was performed to systematically review the literature on interventions targeting IHCPs in improving the delivery of healthcare services in LMICs. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases were searched for studies that assessed any type of intervention among IHCPs to improve the delivery of healthcare services in any LMIC. Outcomes included changes in knowledge, attitude, and reported practice of appropriate case diagnosis and management; improved referral services; effective contraceptive use; and medication appropriateness (PROSPERO ID: CRD42024521739). Results: A total of 7,255 studies were screened and 38 were included. Most of the studies were conducted in Africa and Asia. The IHCPs who were trained included medicine sellers, community health workers/traditional healers, and traditional birth attendants. The main intervention used was educational programs in the form of training. The other interventions were health services, policy and guidelines, and community-based interventions. Most of the interventions were multi-faceted. The disease/service areas targeted were mainly maternal and child health, sexually transmitted diseases, common infectious diseases, medicine use/dispensing practices, and contraception. The outcomes that showed improvements were knowledge, attitude, and reported practice; diagnosis and case management; improved referral services; contraceptive uses; and medication appropriateness. Around one-fourth of the studies reported negative results. The certainty of evidence generated (GRADE criteria) was very low. Conclusion: Some multifaceted interventions coupled with training showed improvements in the delivery of healthcare services by IHCPs. However, the improvements were inconsistent. Hence, it is unclear to identify any context-specific optimum intervention to improve the delivery of healthcare services by IHCPs.
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