PMID- 32486110
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20210210
LR  - 20231103
IS  - 1648-9144 (Electronic)
IS  - 1010-660X (Print)
IS  - 1010-660X (Linking)
VI  - 56
IP  - 6
DP  - 2020 May 29
TI  - Effectiveness of Integrated Health Systems in Africa: A Systematic Review.
LID - 10.3390/medicina56060271 [doi]
LID - 271
AB  - Background and objective: Traditional medicine (TM) was integrated into health 
      systems in Africa due to its importance within the health delivery setup in 
      fostering increased health care accessibility through safe practices. However, 
      the quality of integrated health systems in Africa has not been assessed since 
      its implementation. The objective of this paper was to extensively and 
      systematically review the effectiveness of integrated health systems in Africa. 
      Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted from October, 
      2019 to March, 2020 using Ovid Medline, Scopus, Emcare, Web of Science, 
      Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), and Google Scholar, in 
      order to retrieve original articles evaluating the integration of TM into health 
      systems in Africa. A quality assessment of relevant articles was also carried out 
      using the Quality Assessment Tool for Studies with Diverse Designs (QATDSS) 
      critical appraisal tool. Results: The results indicated that the formulation and 
      execution of health policies were the main measures taken to integrate TM into 
      health systems in Africa. The review also highlighted relatively low levels of 
      awareness, usage, satisfaction, and acceptance of integrated health systems among 
      the populace. Knowledge about the existence of an integrated system varied among 
      study participants, while satisfaction and acceptance were low among orthodox 
      medicine practitioners. Health service users' satisfaction and acceptance of the 
      practice of an integrated health system were high in the countries assessed. 
      Conclusion: The review concluded that existing health policies in Africa are not 
      working, so the integration of TM has not been successful. It is critical to 
      uncover the barriers in the health system by exploring the perceptions and 
      experiences of stakeholders, in order to develop solutions for better integration 
      of the two health systems.
FAU - Ampomah, Irene G
AU  - Ampomah IG
AD  - College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, 
      Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
FAU - Malau-Aduli, Bunmi S
AU  - Malau-Aduli BS
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-6054-8498
AD  - College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, 
      Australia.
FAU - Malau-Aduli, Aduli E O
AU  - Malau-Aduli AEO
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3660-7862
AD  - College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, 
      Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
FAU - Emeto, Theophilus I
AU  - Emeto TI
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3282-1861
AD  - College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, 
      Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Systematic Review
DEP - 20200529
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Medicina (Kaunas)
JT  - Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)
JID - 9425208
SB  - IM
MH  - Africa
MH  - Delivery of Health Care/*standards
MH  - Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/*methods/standards/trends
MH  - Health Services Accessibility/*standards
MH  - Humans
PMC - PMC7353894
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - health system
OT  - integration
OT  - public health
OT  - review
OT  - traditional medicine
COIS- The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
EDAT- 2020/06/04 06:00
MHDA- 2021/02/11 06:00
PMCR- 2020/05/29
CRDT- 2020/06/04 06:00
PHST- 2020/04/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/05/26 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2020/05/28 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/06/04 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2020/06/04 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/02/11 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2020/05/29 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - medicina56060271 [pii]
AID - medicina-56-00271 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/medicina56060271 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Medicina (Kaunas). 2020 May 29;56(6):271. doi: 10.3390/medicina56060271.