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Relevant publications on FM in low-income countries

Relevant and recent

The most recent publication is a qualitative study on FM in Eldoret, Kenya, which evaluates its actual performance within the healthcare system.
It offers the best insight into the work, thoughts and lives of the current FPs. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2296-13-32.pdf

Other relevant papers on medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SAMSS) are http://www.samss.org/literature/default.aspx?literature

Based on evidence from primary care

  1. The contribution of primary care to health and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: a critical review of major primary care initiatives. Soc Sci Med. March 2010;70(6):904–11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20089341
  2. Strategies for integrating primary health services in middle- and low-income countries at the point of delivery. Briggs CJ, Garner P. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16625576  This overview sets out the limited number of studies carried out and makes recommendations for future research.
  3. Is the Alma-Ata Declaration still relevant to primary health care? BMJ 2008 Stephen Gillam. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7643/536
  4. When do vertical (stand-alone) programmes have a place in health systems? Evidence on vertical versus integrated healthcare. Rifat A. Atun.
  5. The contribution of primary care to health systems and health. B Starfield, Shil. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16202000
  6. Strengthening primary care: addressing the disparity between vertical and horizontal investment. J. de Maeseneer et al.

On why FM should be promoted

  1. Funding for primary health care in developing countries. BMJ 2008;336:518–19. 
  2. Exploring the key principles of Family Medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: an international Delphi consensus process – Bob Mash et al..
  3. Eldoret: Towards sustainable family medicine training in Kenya?  P van den Hombergh, R. Downing, P. Chege, G. van Kasteren

On access to healthcare professionals in rural areas

  1. Projections on workforce required in primary care
  2. Recommendations for increasing access to healthcare workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention WHO Report
  3. Compulsory service programmes for recruiting healthcare workers in remote and rural areas: Do they work? WHO Bulletin
  4. Providing appropriate generalist care whilst serving as a Medical Officer during compulsory service. Medicus Tropicus, September 2010 (48/3), pp. 7–8
  5. WHO Bulletin (Editorial) – Maximising the impact of community-based practitioners in the quest for universal health coverage
    J Campbell et al; http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/9/15-162198/en/ From the latest (September) issue of the Bulletin. The editorial refers, amongst other things, to the new analysis by Barbara McPake et al in the same issue – they report that investment in community-based practitioners can be a cost-effective approach, in certain contexts and under certain circumstances.
  6. The cost of providing and scaling up surgical services: a comparison of a district hospital and a referral hospital in Zambia. Leon Bijlmakers, Dennis Cornelissen. Health Policy and Planning, 2018, 1–10