CHORUS Paper: To What Extent Are Informal Healthcare Providers in Slums Linked to the Formal Health System in Providing Services in Sub-Sahara Africa? A 12-Year Scoping Review
The CHORUS team at the University of Nigeria conducted a literature review of publications from 2011 to 2023 focusing on slums in Sub-Saharan Africa. This review can inform the way policy makers link informal health providers to formal health systems to reduce health disparities.
The literature review identified 26 publications that referred to collaborations between informal and formal health systems in healthcare delivery. The collaboration is demonstrated through formal healthcare providers providing training and a two-way referral process (informal to formal or formal to informal).
This review highlights that more evidence is required for demonstrating the contributions of informal healthcare providers and the interlinking relationship they have with the formal healthcare systems. Additionally the review demonstrates that although there is collaboration between informal and formal services, the process is not fully documented or standardised across informal healthcare providers, thus impacting the potential contributions of informal providers to the urban health system.