Factors That Influence Data Use to Improve Health Service Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Introduction The importance of integrated, people-centered health systems has been recognized as a central component of achieving Universal Health Coverage. Integration has also been highlighted as a critical element for building resilient health systems that can stand the shock of health emergencies. However, there is dearth of research and systematic synthesis of evidence on the synergistic relationship between integrated health services and pandemic preparedness in low- and low-middle income countries (LMICs). Thus, the authors are organizing a scoping review aiming to explore application of integrated health service delivery approaches during the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs. Methods and analysis This scoping review adheres to the six steps for scoping reviews from Arksey and OMalley (2005). Peer reviewed scientific literature will be systematically assembled utilizing a standardized and replicable search strategy from seven electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, the World Health Organization Global Research Database on COVID-19, and LitCovid. Initially, the title and abstract of the collected literature, published in English from December 2019 to June 2020, will be screened for inclusion which will be followed by a full text review by two independent reviewers. Data will be charted using a data extraction form and reported in narrative format with accompanying data matrices. Ethics and dissemination No ethical approval is required for the review. The study will be conducted from June to December 2020. Results from this study will provide a snapshot of the evidence currently being generated related to integrated health service delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings will be developed into reports and a peer-reviewed articles and will assist policy makers in making pragmatic and evidence-based decisions for current and future pandemic response.

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Data Equity to Advance Health and Health Equity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Digital Health ◽

10.1177/20552076211061922 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 205520762110619

Author(s):

So O‘Neil ◽

Sydney Taylor ◽

Anitha Sivasankaran

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Health Equity ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Data Use ◽

Data Access ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Improve Health ◽

Low And Middle Income

Objective To assess a common hypothesis that data serve as a mechanism to improve health and health equity in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), we conducted a synthesis of the evidence about the linkage between data capabilities in LMICs and health outcomes. Methods We searched and reviewed peer-reviewed and grey literature published in the past decade that focused on at least one aspect of health data or health equity or provided insights on the relationship between data use and improved health outcomes, decision-making, or both. We supplemented this with expert interviews and convenience-sampled literature. Results Of the 50 included articles, 33 discussed data collection, with 23 stating that poor accuracy, reliability, and completeness hindered data-informed decision-making. Of 27 articles discussing data access, 18 described how lack of interoperability between data systems hampered governments’ and other organizations’ ability to leverage the full value of data available. Of 19 articles discussing data use, 13 discussed how data were not getting to those doing work on the ground. Although key informants postulated a virtuous cycle between data and improved health outcomes, evidence did not support this connection. Conclusions Findings indicate better data might improve health service delivery. However, more work is needed to examine whether improvements in data yield improvements in health outcomes in LMICs. Our conceptual framework of data equity for health and health equity developed through this scoping review helps identify the key components along which to assess improvements in LMICs’ data capabilities.

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Evidence of integrated health service delivery during COVID-19 in low and lower-middle-income countries: protocol for a scoping review

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042872 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. e042872

Author(s):

Rachel Neill ◽

Md Zabir Hasan ◽

Priyanka Das ◽

Vasuki Venugopal ◽

Nishant Jain ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Systems ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Data Matrix ◽

Research Database ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Integrated Health

IntroductionThe importance of integrated, people-centred health systems has been recognised as a central component of Universal Health Coverage. Integration has also been highlighted as a critical element for building resilient health systems that can withstand the shock of health emergencies. However, there is a dearth of research and systematic synthesis of evidence on the synergistic relationship between integrated health services and pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery in low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). Thus, the authors are organising a scoping review aiming to explore the application of integrated health service delivery approaches during the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs.Methods and analysisThis scoping review adheres to the six steps for scoping reviews from Arksey and O’Malley. Peer-reviewed scientific literature will be systematically assembled using a standardised and replicable search strategy from seven electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, the WHO’s Global Research Database on COVID-19 and LitCovid. Initially, the title and abstract of the collected literature, published in English from December 2019 to June 2020, will be screened for inclusion which will be followed by a full-text review by two independent reviewers. Data will be charted using a data extraction form and reported in narrative format with accompanying data matrix.Ethics and disseminationNo ethical approval is required for the review. The study will be conducted from June 2020 to May 2021. Results from this scoping review will provide a snapshot of the evidence currently being generated related to integrated health service delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs. The findings will be developed into reports and a peer-reviewed article and will assist policy-makers in making pragmatic and evidence-based decisions for current and future pandemic responses.

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NGOs’ experiences of navigating the open access landscape

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.17359.2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 1563

Author(s):

Nilam McGrath

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Health Service ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Research ◽

Research Programme ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Communicable Diseases ◽

Research Institutions ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries

Grant-led consortia working in the global development sector rely on the input of local and national non-government organisations in low- and middle-income countries. However, the open access mandates and mechanisms embedded within grants and promoted by funders and publishers are designed almost exclusively with large universities and research institutions in mind. Experiences from the consortium of health research non-government organisations comprising the Communicable Diseases Health Service Delivery research programme show that implementing open access mandates is not as simple or frictionless as it initially appears.

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NGOs’ experiences of navigating the open access landscape

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.17359.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 1563

Author(s):

Nilam McGrath

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Health Service ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Research ◽

Research Programme ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Communicable Diseases ◽

Research Institutions ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries

Grant-led consortia working in the global development sector rely on the input of local and national non-government organisations in low- and middle-income countries. However, the open access mandates and mechanisms embedded within grants and promoted by funders and publishers are designed almost exclusively with large universities and research institutions in mind. Experiences from the consortium of health research non-government organisations comprising the Communicable Diseases Health Service Delivery research programme show that implementing open access mandates is not as simple or frictionless as it initially appears.

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Do efforts to standardize, assess and improve the quality of health service provision to adolescents by government-run health services in low and middle income countries, lead to improvements in service-quality and service-utilization by adolescents?

Reproductive Health ◽

10.1186/s12978-015-0111-y ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli ◽

Subidita Chatterjee ◽

Krishna Bose

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Health Services ◽

Service Quality ◽

Service Utilization ◽

Service Provision ◽

Middle Income ◽

Health Service Provision ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Low And Middle Income

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A decentralized Offline Patient ID Generation and Matching Algorithm: The Nigeria phone-based model (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29950 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emeka Chukwu ◽

Lalit Garg ◽

Iniobong Ekong

Keyword(s):

Resource Constraints ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Health Management Information System ◽

Patient Identification ◽

Network Resource ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Low And Middle Income

UNSTRUCTURED Quality of health service delivery data remains sub-optimal in many developing countries despite over a decade of progress in digitization and Health Management Information System (HMIS). Uniquely identifying Patients within the care continuum is the only way to guarantee better outcomes hinged on shared health records. Many different strategies exist for uniquely identifying and tracking a patient in a health system, and they also have their trade-offs. Nigeria, a typical low-and-middle-income country is used to demonstrate the survey of how leading candidates for Patient identification fit in the digital Patient ID desirable attributes framework. The network resource constraints inherent in low-and-middle-income countries is illustrated. We show that no current Patient ID strategy simultaneously meets the six attributes of uniqueness, unchanging, uncontroversial, inexpensive, ubiquitous, and uncomplicated. We designed and prototyped decentralized algorithms for universal-offline, unique Patient ID generation with a dual deterministic and probabilistic patient matching model.

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