Motivation and retention of health workers in developing countries: A systematic review

Mischa Willis-Shattuck; Posy Bidwell; Steve Thomas; Laura Wyness; Duane Blaauw; Prudence Ditlopo

doi:10.1186/1472-6963-8-247

Motivation and retention of health workers in developing countries

A systematic review

Bibliographic Data

ID	23317635
Authors	Mischa Willis-Shattuck, Posy Bidwell (0000-0001-8506-9880), Steve Thomas (0000-0002-6278-6833), Laura Wyness, Duane Blaauw (0000-0002-0605-7134), Prudence Ditlopo (0000-0002-5772-3125)
Year	2008
Volume	8
Issue	1
Publication date	2008-12-01
Peer Reviewed	Yes
Open Access	Yes
Type	ARTICLE
Venue	BMC Health Services Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiers	ISSN: 1472-6963 • E-ISSN: 1472-6963
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI	10.1186/1472-6963-8-247
PMID	19055827
PMCID	PMC2612662
Language	EN
Citations received	110
References cited	27

Understanding barriers and facilitators of integrating management of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) into the Ethiopian primary health care system using Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)
Open AccessAlinoor Mohamed Farah, Samson Gebremedhin Gebreselassie et al.PLOS Global Public Health2026
Risk factors, barriers and facilitators for linkage to antiretroviral therapy care
Darshini Govindasamy, Nathan Ford et al.AIDS2012
High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era
Open AccessMargaret E Kruk, Anna D Gage et al.The Lancet Global Health2018
Healthcare professional motivation in Poland and Ukraine
Open AccessAnatoliy G Goncharuk, Roman Lewandowski et al.Economics & Sociology2024
The role of tobacco and alcohol use in the interaction of social determinants of non-communicable diseases in Nepal
Open AccessSudesh Raj Sharma, Anna Matheson et al.BMC Public Health2020
Determinants of effective organisational capacity training
Open AccessWoldekidan Amde, Woldekidan Kifle Amde et al.BMC Public Health2019
Modelling strategic interventions in a population with a total fertility rate of 8.3
Open AccessDana R Thomson, Michael Hadley et al.BMC Public Health2012
Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of nutrition interventions at primary health care units of Ethiopia
Open AccessBilal Shikur Endris, Esete Habtemariam Fenta et al.Maternal and Child Nutrition2022
Healthcare Infrastructure and Resource Barriers to Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Ghana
Open AccessAwinaba Amoah Adongo, Dominic Nabil Bodpii et al.International Journal of…2026
Knowing, learning and acting in health care organizations and services
Open AccessClaudio Bosio, Guendalina Graffigna et al.Qualitative Research in…2012
Effort-reward imbalance and common mental disorders among public sector employees of Iran
Open AccessNastaran Nasirpour, Mohammadreza Shalbafan et al.BMC Public Health2024
Communication rehabilitation in sub-Saharan Africa
Open AccessKaren Wylie, Lindy McAllister et al.African Journal of Disability2018
What influences availability of medicines for the community management of childhood illnesses in central Uganda? Implications for scaling up the integrated community case management programme
Open AccessJames Bagonza, Elizeus Rutebemberwa et al.BMC Public Health2015
Role and capacity needs of community based surveillance volunteers in the integrated management of skin neglected tropical diseases (skin NTDs)
Open AccessLucy Owusu, Ruth Dede Tuwor et al.BMC Public Health2023
Predictors of Health-Workforce Job Satisfaction in Primary Care Settings
Open AccessSamuel Muhula, Yvonne Opanga et al.International Journal of…2025
Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Strategies for the Recruitment and Retention of Primary Health Care Employees in Qatar
Open AccessM Alameddine, Rami Yassoub et al.INQUIRY The Journal of Health…2017
Governmental Investments in Hospital Infrastructure Among Regions and Its Efficiency in China
Open AccessTianjiao Lan, Ting Chen et al.Frontiers in Public Health2021
Incentive Preferences and Its Related Factors Among Primary Medical Staff in Anhui Province, China
Open AccessLingzhi Sang, Hongzhang Liu et al.Frontiers in Public Health2022
Motivational determinants of frontline health extension workers in East Hararge Zone, Ethiopia
Open AccessBereket Yonas Madebo, Debela Tezera Simagn et al.Frontiers in Public Health2025
An Assessment of Impact of Leadership Training on Health System Performance in Selected Counties in Kenya
Open AccessTecla Chelagat, James G Rice et al.Frontiers in Public Health2021
Global Insights Into Rural Health Workers' Job Satisfaction
Open AccessYuquan Chen, Yanwei You et al.Frontiers in Public Health2022
Commentary
Open AccessR Sujithra, V Bini Marin et al.Frontiers in Public Health2025
Using Employment Data From a Medical University to Examine the Current Occupation Situation of Master's Graduates in Public Health and Preventive Medicine in China
Open AccessHuangyuan Li, Fuli Zheng et al.Frontiers in Public Health2020
The impact of organizational commitment on job performance in primary healthcare
Open AccessShichao Zhao, Tao Wang et al.Frontiers in Public Health2025
The Nexus Between Digital Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship Education, and Entrepreneurial Intention and Entrepreneurial Motivation
Open AccessEmmanuel Udekwe, Chux IwuEducation Sciences2024
Evaluation of a Positive Psychological Intervention to Reduce Work Stress among Rural Community Health Workers in India
Open AccessAmeya P Bondre, Spriha Singh et al.Journal of Happiness Studies2025
Understanding community health workers’ activities in a community-based child health promotion project in Kyrgyzstan
Open AccessHyunsook Shin, Soonyoung Shon et al.Evaluation and Program Planning2023
Professional identity transitions, violations and reconciliations among new nurses in low- and middle-income countries
Open AccessDaniel Mbuthia, Daniel Waweru Mbuthia et al.SSM - Qualitative Research in…2021
Exit, voice or neglect
Open AccessOliver Johnson, Foday Sahr et al.SSM - Qualitative Research in…2022
A mixed-methods feasibility study of Nyamekela4Care
Open AccessStephan Rabie, Christina Laurenzi et al.SSM - Mental Health2022
Stress Alleviation Methods for community-Based Health ActiVists (SAMBHAV)
Open AccessRashmi Shrivastava, Ritu Shrivastava et al.SSM - Mental Health2023
Early-career experts essential for planetary sustainability
Open AccessMichelle Lim, Andrew J Lynch et al.Current Opinion in Environmental…2017
Human resource inequalities at the base of India's public health care system
Open AccessSaseendran Pallikadavath, Abhishek Singh et al.Health & Place2013
Upscaling the recruitment and retention of human resources for health at primary healthcare centres in Lebanon
Open AccessM Alameddine, Hiba Khodr et al.Health & Social Care in the…2015
Implementing large-scale primary health care workforce reforms
Open AccessAkriti Mehta, Prabhjeet Kaur et al.Social Science & Medicine2025
Assessing innovative approaches for global health capacity building in fragile settings in the Mena region
Open AccessShadi Saleh, Rania Mansour et al.Conflict and Health2022
Innovation to improve health care provision and health systems in sub-Saharan Africa – Promoting agency in mid-level workers and district managers
Open AccessSharon Fonn, Sunanda Ray et al.Global Public Health2010
Facilitating equitable community-level access to maternal health services
Open AccessGermaine Tuyisenge, Valorie A Crooks et al.International Journal for Equity…2019
An assessment of equity in the distribution of non-financial health care inputs across public primary health care facilities in Tanzania
Open AccessAugust Kuwawenaruwa, Josephine Borghi et al.International Journal for Equity…2017
Measuring inequalities in the public health workforce at county-level Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China
Open AccessWeiqin Cai, Chengyue Li et al.International Journal for Equity…2019
Measuring spatial equity and access to maternal health services using enhanced two step floating catchment area method (E2SFCA) – a case study of the Indian Sundarbans
Open AccessLalitha Vadrevu, Barun KanjilalInternational Journal for Equity…2016
Measuring the effects of motivation messages on STEM undergraduates’ interest in teaching
Open AccessSophie Thompson‐lee, Robert M Klassen et al.Teaching and Teacher Education2024
Longitudinal relationships between teachers’ utility values and quitting intentions
Open AccessHui Wang, Robert M KlassenTeaching and Teacher Education2023
Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
Open AccessArchna Gupta, Ramakrishna Prasad et al.PLOS Global Public Health2023
Determinants of practice location choices among physicians and medical students in Mali
Open AccessIssa Kalossi, Dielika Coulibaly et al.PLOS Global Public Health2025
Leaving the health workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic
Open AccessChristl Jan S Tiu, Nicole Rose I Alberto et al.PLOS Global Public Health2025
Opportunities to sustain a multi-country quality of care network
Open AccessSeblewengel Lemma, Callie Daniels-Howell et al.PLOS Global Public Health2023
Capacity for delivery of paediatric emergency care and the current use of emergency triage, assessment and treatment in health facilities in the Busoga region, Uganda—A mixed methods study
Open AccessGoda Laucaityte, Fredrik Wikander Fahnehjelm et al.PLOS Global Public Health2024
Outbreak ethics
Open AccessAdetayo E ObasaEthics Medicine and Public Health2025
Factors influencing physicians’ choice of workplace
Open AccessMaria El Koussa, Rifat Atun et al.Journal of Global Health2016
Task-shifting eye care to ophthalmic community health officers (Ocho) in Sierra Leone
Open AccessVladimir Pente, Stevens Bechange et al.Journal of Global Health2021
Assessing performance enhancing tools
Open AccessNils Gunnar Songstad, Nils Songstad et al.Globalization and Health2012
Factors influencing job preferences of health workers providing obstetric care
Open AccessEilish Mcauliffe, Marie Galligan et al.Globalization and Health2016
Physicians’ brain drain - a gravity model of migration flows
Open AccessAlina Botezat, Raúl RamosGlobalization and Health2020
Key strategies to improve systems for managing patient complaints within health facilities – what can we learn from the existing literature
Open AccessTolib Mirzoev, Sumit KaneGlobal Health Action2018
Are health workers motivated by income? Job motivation of Cambodian primary health workers implementing performance-based financing
Open AccessKeovathanak KhimGlobal Health Action2016
Barriers to accessing health care in Nigeria
Open AccessSunday A Adedini, Clifford O Odimegwu et al.Global Health Action2014
Can performance-based incentives improve motivation of nurses and midwives in primary facilities in northern Ghana? A quasi-experimental study
Open AccessGifty Apiung Aninanya, Neil Howard et al.Global Health Action2016
The future of health in Zimbabwe
Open AccessKhameer Kidia, Khameer K KidiaGlobal Health Action2018
Challenges and possible improvements for healthcare teams at outreach clinics in Nepal – a qualitative study
Open AccessIngrid Eriksen, Eirin Helene Rasmussen et al.Global Health Action2024
Does moonlighting influence South African nurses’ intention to leave their primary jobs
Open AccessLaetitia C Rispel, Tobias Chirwa et al.Global Health Action2014
Service, training, mentorship
Open AccessAndrew Van Wieren, Lindsay Palazuelos et al.Global Health Action2014
Analysis of Iranian health workforce emigration based on a system dynamics approach
Open AccessHamideh Keyvani, Reza Majdzadeh et al.Global Health Action2024
Supervising community health workers in low-income countries – a review of impact and implementation issues
Open AccessZelee Hill, Mari Dumbaugh et al.Global Health Action2014
Balancing the cost of leaving with the cost of living
Open AccessSuzanne N Kiwanuka, Martha Akulume et al.Global Health Action2017
This is our country and somehow, we have to make it work’
Open AccessPaul Ikhurionan, Patience Toyin-Thomas et al.Global Health Action2026
Behind the scenes of the PRIME intervention
Open AccessDeborah DiLiberto, Deborah D DiLiberto et al.Global Health Action2015
Ready to deliver maternal and newborn care? Health providers’ perceptions of their work context in rural Mozambique
Open AccessSibone Mocumbi, Kevin J Mckee et al.Global Health Action2018
Understanding why oral health professionals migrate
Open AccessSara Hajian, Mohammad-Pooyan Jadidfard et al.Global Health Action2023
How to do (or not to do)… Measuring health worker motivation in surveys in low- and middle-income countries
Open AccessJosephine Borghi, Johannes Lohmann et al.Health Policy and Planning2018
Influence Factors for Family Physician Contract Services’ Motivation in China
Open AccessXinglong Xu, Lingqing Zhao et al.SAGE Open2023
Mecanismos de ingresso de dentistas no SUS
Open AccessMariana Gabriel, Maristela Honório Cayetano et al.Ciência & Saúde Coletiva2020
Absenteeism among family planning providers
Open AccessKatherine Tumlinson, Laura E Britton et al.Health Policy and Planning2022
Workplace-based learning in district health leadership and management strengthening
Open AccessGrace Kiarie, Lucy Gilson et al.Health Policy and Planning2025
A provisão emergencial de médicos pelo Programa Mais Médicos e a qualidade da estrutura das unidades básicas de saúde
Open AccessLígia Giovanella, Maria Helena M Mendonça et al.Ciência & Saúde Coletiva2016
Factores e intervenciones que inciden en las condiciones y medio ambiente de trabajo para incrementar la atracción, captación y retención de recursos humanos en salud en el primer nivel de atención de áreas rurales, remotas o desatendidas
Open AccessMaría Eugenia Esandi, Laura Antonietti et al.Revista Panamericana de Salud…2020
Health provider responsiveness to social accountability initiatives in low- and middle-income countries
Open AccessElsbet Lodenstein, Marjolein Dieleman et al.Health Policy and Planning2017
Support and performance improvement for primary health care workers in low- and middle-income countries
Open AccessAshwin Vasan, David Mabey et al.Health Policy and Planning2016
Which intervention design factors influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review
Open AccessMaryse Kok, Maryse C Kok et al.Health Policy and Planning2015
Midwifery training in post-conflict Afghanistan
Open AccessGhulam Farooq Mansoor, P Hill et al.Health Policy and Planning2012
The impact of delays on maternal and neonatal outcomes in Ugandan public health facilities
Open AccessLouise Ackers, Elena Ioannou et al.Health Policy and Planning2016
Your health our concern, our health whose concern
Open AccessMatilda Aberese-Ako, Han Van Dijk et al.Health Policy and Planning2014
Does human resource management improve family planning service quality? Analysis from the Kenya Service Provision Assessment 2010
Open AccessNandita Thatte, Yoonjoung ChoiHealth Policy and Planning2015
Going operational with health systems governance
Open AccessIgor Francetic, Fabrizio Tediosi et al.Health Policy and Planning2019
A network study exploring factors that promote or erode interaction among diverse community health workers in rural Ethiopia
Open AccessMichelle M Dynes, Michelle Dynes et al.Health Policy and Planning2015
Improving Chinese primary care providers’ recruitment and retention
Open AccessKuimeng Song, Anthony Scott et al.Health Policy and Planning2015
Motivating health workers up to a limit
Open AccessAruni Bhatnagar, Aarushi Bhatnagar et al.Health Policy and Planning2016
A critical interpretive synthesis of informal payments in maternal health care
Open AccessMarta Schaaf, Stephanie M ToppHealth Policy and Planning2019
Retention of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums
Open AccessKhurshid Alam, Sakiba Tasneem et al.Health Policy and Planning2012
Community case management of malaria
Open AccessKristin Banek, J Nankabirwa et al.Health Policy and Planning2015
Numbers, systems, people
Open AccessSusannah H Mayhew, Stuart Sweeney et al.Health Policy and Planning2017
Desigualdades regionais e baixa retenção de médicos no Brasil
Open AccessDaniel do Prado Pagotto, Wanderson Marques et al.Saúde em Debate2025
Desigualdades regionales y baja retención de médicos en Brasil
Open AccessDaniel do Prado Pagotto, Wanderson Marques et al.Saúde em Debate2025
Regional inequalities and low physician retention in Brazil
Open AccessDaniel do Prado Pagotto, Wanderson Marques et al.Saúde em Debate2025
If the Big Fish are Doing It Then Why Not Me Down Here ?”
Open AccessKatherine Tumlinson, Margaret W Gichane et al.Studies in Family Planning2020
Professional and community satisfaction with the Brazilian family health strategy
Open AccessLilian G Pérez, Juliet D Sheridan et al.Revista de Saúde Pública2013
ICPD at Thirty
Open AccessSiri Suh, Cora Fernández AndersonStudies in Comparative…2025
Merit, Tenure, and Bureaucratic Behavior
Open AccessVirginia Oliveros, Christian SchusterComparative Political Studies2018
A produção científica brasileira sobre o Projeto Mais Médicos para o Brasil (PMMB)
Open AccessQuelen Tanize Alves Da Silva, Luiz Carlos De Oliveira CecilioSaúde em Debate2019
Impact of supply-side conditional cash transfers on household family planning decisions
Open AccessAhmad Reshad Osmani, Albert Ade Okunade et al.Social Science & Medicine2025

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub

Unique citing works	110
Citations per year	6,88
Citation span	2010 - 2026 (17)
Citation velocity	current
Highly cited	Yes
Citation types	Neutral: 109