Correlates of and Barriers to the Utilization of Health Services for Delivery in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

Non-physician Clinicians in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Evolving Role of Physicians

Responding to critical shortages of physicians, most sub-Saharan countries have scaled up training of nonphysician clinicians (NPCs), resulting in a gradual but decisive shift to NPCs as the cornerstone of healthcare delivery. This development should unfold in parallel with strategic rethinking about the role of physicians and with innovations in physician education and in-service training. In ...

Financing for Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: Risk Pooling & Risk-Sharing Arrangements; Essential Strategy for Overcoming Poverty Costs

Defining Sub-Saharan Africa’s Health Workforce Needs: Going Forwards Quickly Into the Past; Comment on “Non-physician Clinicians in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Evolving Role of Physicians”

Recent proposals for re-defining the roles Africa’s health workforce are a continuation of the discussions that have been held since colonial times. The proposals have centred on basing the continent’s healthcare delivery on non-physician clinicians (NPCs) who can be quickly trained and widely distributed to treat majority of the common diseases. Whilst seemingly logical, the success of these p...

A New Generation of Physicians in Sub-Saharan Africa?; Comment on “Non-physician Clinicians in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Evolving Role of Physicians”

This commentary follows up on an editorial by Eyal and colleagues in which these authors discuss the implications of the emergence of non-physician clinicians (NPCs) on the health labour market for the education of medical doctors. We generally agree with those authors and we want to stress the importance of clarifying the terminology to describe these practitioners and of defining more formall...

Planning and Developing Services for Diabetic Retinopathy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background Over the past few decades diabetes has emerged as an important non-communicable disease in SubSaharan Africa (SSA). Sight loss from Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) can be prevented with screening and early treatment. The objective of this paper is to outline the required actions and considerations in the planning and development of DR screening services.   Methods A multiple-case study app...