The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 73 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Does task shifting yield cost savings and improve efficiency for health systems? A systematic review of evidence from low-income and middle-income countries
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Task shifting has become an increasingly popular way to increase access to health services, especially in low-resource settings. Research has demonstrated that task shifting, including the use of community health workers (CHWs) to deliver care, can improve population health. This systematic review investigates whether task shifting in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) results in efficiency improvements by achieving cost savings. METHODS: Using the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, we searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and the Health Economic Evaluation Database on March 22, 2016. We included any original peer-review articles that demonstrated cost impact of a task shifting program in an LMIC. RESULTS: We identified 794 articles, of which 34 were included in our study. We found that substantial evidence exists for achieving cost savings and efficiency improvements from task shifting activities related to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and additional evidence exists for the potential to achieve cost savings from activities related to malaria, NCDs, NTDs, childhood illness, and other disease areas, especially at the primary health care and community levels. CONCLUSIONS: Task shifting presents a viable option for health system cost savings in LMICs. Going forward, program planners should carefully consider whether task shifting can improve population health and health systems efficiency in their countries, and researchers should investigate whether task shifting can also achieve cost savings for activities related to emerging global health priorities and health systems strengthening activities such as supply chain management or monitoring and evaluation.
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“Task-shifting and task-sharing are strategies that have been explored in generic adult services in lowresource and middle-resource settings. 448,449”
From The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health (2024) · cites this paper as [449]
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Joshi, R., Alim, M., Kengne, A. P., Jan, S., Maulik, P. K., Peiris, D., & Patel, A. A. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103754 · Cited by 589
Glenton, C., Colvin, C., Carlsen, B., Swartz, A., Lewin, S., Noyes, J., & Rashidian, A. (2013) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd010414.pub2 · Cited by 454
Non-physician clinicians in 47 sub-Saharan African countries
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Pallas, S. W., Minhas, D., Pérez‐Escamilla, R., Taylor, L. A., Curry, L. A., & Bradley, E. H. (2013) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2012.301102 · Cited by 315
Costs and cost-effectiveness of community health workers: evidence from a literature review
Vaughan, K., Kok, M. C., Witter, S., & Dieleman, M. A. (2015) · Human Resources for Health · doi:10.1186/s12960-015-0070-y · Cited by 232
Talib, Z. M., Kiguli-Malwadde, E., Wohltjen, H., Derbew, M., Mulla, Y., Olaleye, D. O., & Sewankambo, N. K. (2015) · Human Resources for Health · doi:10.1186/1478-4491-13-1 · Cited by 227
Community‐supported models of care for people on HIV treatment in sub‐ S aharan A frica
Bemelmans, M., Baert, S., Goemaere, E., Wilkinson, L. S., Vandendyck, M., Cutsem, G. V., da Silva, C. B., Perry, S., Szumilin, E., Gerstenhaber, R., et al. (2014) · Tropical Medicine & International Health · doi:10.1111/tmi.12332 · Cited by 197
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Task shifting from doctors to non-doctors for initiation and maintenance of antiretroviral therapy
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The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health
McGorry, P. D., Mei, C., Dalal, N., Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Blakemore, S.-J., Browne, V., Dooley, B., Hickie, I. B., Jones, P. B., McDaid, D., et al. (2024) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(24)00163-9 · Cited by 663
The Lancet Commission on diagnostics: transforming access to diagnostics
Fleming, K. A., Horton, S., Wilson, M. L., Atun, R. A., DeStigter, K. K., Flanigan, J. S., Sayed, S., Adam, P., Aguilar, B., Andronikou, S., et al. (2021) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(21)00673-5 · Cited by 506
Self-citationHypertension in low-and middle-income countries
Schutte, A. E., Srinivasapura Venkateshmurthy, N., Mohan, S., & Prabhakaran, D. (2021) · Circulation Research · doi:10.1161/circresaha.120.318729 · Cited by 460
Sustainable care for children with cancer: a Lancet Oncology Commission
Atun, R. A., Bhakta, N. H., Denburg, A., Frazier, A. L., Friedrich, P. M., Gupta, S., Lam, C. G., Ward, Z. J., Yeh, J. M., Allemani, C., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Oncology · doi:10.1016/s1470-2045(20)30022-x · Cited by 400
Self-citationGuidelines for the care and treatment of persons diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus infection
Indolfi, G. (2018) · Florence Research (University of Florence) · Cited by 220
Metadata
- Authors
- Seidman, G., & Atun, R.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Seidman, Gabriel
- Venue
- Human Resources for Health
- Published
- 2017-04-13
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 29-29
- ISSN
- 1478-4491 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5390445
- OpenAlex
- W2606326829
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 5.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Human Resources for Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Global Health Workforce Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Healthcare Systems and Reforms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Healthcare Systems and Practices
- Keywords
- task shifting, community health workers, health system efficiency, cost reduction, low- and middle-income countries, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, non-communicable diseases, neglected tropical diseases, childhood diseases, primary care, healthcare workers
- MeSH terms
- Community Health Workers, Community Health Services, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Delivery of Health Care, Developing Countries, Health Personnel, Humans, Primary Health Care, Work, Workload, Cost Savings
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