TY - JOUR
T1 - Health worker capacity-building interventions and quality of primary healthcare delivery in sub-Saharan Africa
T2 - a systematic review protocol
AU - Amu, Hubert
AU - Dzadza, Abigail Elikplim Liberty Abra
AU - Glover, Rose Mawufemor
AU - Akpene, Diana Awusi
AU - Tiah, Janet Awopole Yepakeh
AU - Agula, Caesar
AU - Bawah, Ayaga Agula
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2026. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group.. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
PY - 2026/3
Y1 - 2026/3
N2 - BackgroundAchieving high-quality primary healthcare (PHC) remains essential to improving health systems performance and advancing progress towards attainment of universal health coverage, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where gaps in service delivery persist. Capacity-building interventions, such as mentorship, in-service training and supportive supervision, have been widely employed to improve the quality of PHC delivery. The evidence base is, however, fragmented across diverse settings, intervention types and outcome measures. This systematic review will examine the evidence on how capacity-building interventions improve the quality of PHC services in SSA, with a focus on the domains of effectiveness, safety, people-centredness, timeliness, equity, integration and efficiency as propounded by the WHO.MethodsWe will conduct a systematic review using established evidence synthesis methods and report the findings in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. Eligible studies will include peer-reviewed and grey literature published in English between 2000 and 2025, focusing on capacity-building interventions aimed at improving PHC quality in SSA. We will search databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and the African Journals Online. Study selection will follow the Population (PHC providers), Exposure (capacity-building interventions) and Outcome (quality of PHC delivery across WHO domains) framework. Quality assessment will use the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Data will be narratively synthesised using Atlas.ti software.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required because there will be no collection of primary data. Only published studies/records available on peer-reviewed literature and grey sources will be included. Findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal, academic conferences and stakeholder platforms in SSA.RegistrationThe protocol has been registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251131534) and reported according to PRISMA-P guidelines.
AB - BackgroundAchieving high-quality primary healthcare (PHC) remains essential to improving health systems performance and advancing progress towards attainment of universal health coverage, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where gaps in service delivery persist. Capacity-building interventions, such as mentorship, in-service training and supportive supervision, have been widely employed to improve the quality of PHC delivery. The evidence base is, however, fragmented across diverse settings, intervention types and outcome measures. This systematic review will examine the evidence on how capacity-building interventions improve the quality of PHC services in SSA, with a focus on the domains of effectiveness, safety, people-centredness, timeliness, equity, integration and efficiency as propounded by the WHO.MethodsWe will conduct a systematic review using established evidence synthesis methods and report the findings in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. Eligible studies will include peer-reviewed and grey literature published in English between 2000 and 2025, focusing on capacity-building interventions aimed at improving PHC quality in SSA. We will search databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and the African Journals Online. Study selection will follow the Population (PHC providers), Exposure (capacity-building interventions) and Outcome (quality of PHC delivery across WHO domains) framework. Quality assessment will use the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Data will be narratively synthesised using Atlas.ti software.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required because there will be no collection of primary data. Only published studies/records available on peer-reviewed literature and grey sources will be included. Findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal, academic conferences and stakeholder platforms in SSA.RegistrationThe protocol has been registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251131534) and reported according to PRISMA-P guidelines.
KW - Capacity Building
KW - Delivery of Health Care, Integrated
KW - Health
KW - Primary Health Care
KW - Quality in health care
KW - Systematic Review
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105034371292
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110779
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110779
M3 - Article
C2 - 41876160
AN - SCOPUS:105034371292
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 16
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 3
ER -