ReviewThe Lancet. Primary care2026
Organisation of health services for the delivery of primary health care in the WHO African region: a future perspective.
Review in The Lancet. Primary care, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite decades of investment in health systems across the WHO African region, population health outcomes remain suboptimal. The region faces evolving challenges, including demographic shifts, emerging health threats, and persistent inequalities. Current health-service delivery models are misaligned with anticipated future health demands, necessitating a reimagined operational framework grounded in a revitalised primary health-care approach. In this Viewpoint, we draw on expert consensus from professionals across 19 countries using the nominal group technique and Delphi-style rounds. Experts were organised into thematic "policy laboratories" focusing on primary care, hospitals, and oversight. Expert insights were collected through structured questionnaires, thematic analysis, and iterative validation, culminating in a 5-day consensus workshop. Three key constructs emerged for future health-service organisation: (1) primary care units as integrated networks delivering first point-of-care interventions; (2) hospitals redefined to include training, research, and clinical governance roles; and (3) oversight structures with decentralised, participatory, and evidence-informed decision-making capacities. The proposed model emphasises person centredness, functional integration, and digital innovation to enhance system responsiveness and resilience. The future of health-service delivery in Africa lies not in replacing existing structures, but in repurposing and realigning them to meet population health needs. Incremental reforms, supported by digital tools, essential health packages, and rationalised service-provision modalities, can enable countries to build resilient, people-centred health-care systems. National and subnational leadership, supported by regional and global partners, is essential for driving this transformation.
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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.