. 2023 Dec 6;8(12):e012906. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012906

Table 1.

Summary of articles included in the analysis

Authors, year, reference no	DOI	Title	Article type	Geographical scope	Research question or objective*	Accountability for what outcomes?	Which actor is held to account? (duty bearer)	By whom? (claims holder)
Eaton, 2005⁸²	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7519.718	Global Fund toughens stance against corruption	News article	Uganda	To report on how the Global Fund sees the enforcement of transparency and accountability as a vital step in ensuring results	Better governance of development assistance for health	National government of Uganda	Multisectoral institution (the Global Fund)
Bryce et al, 2006⁸⁹	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69339-2	Countdown to 2015: tracking intervention coverage for child survival	Research article—case study	60 countries with the highest rates of child mortality	To present the first report of the Child Survival Countdown, a worldwide effort to monitor coverage of key child-survival interventions	Reduction in child mortality	National governments of countries with the highest burden of child mortality	International partnership of multiple actors (child survival countdown)
Gostin, 2007⁹⁸	https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/480/	The ‘Tobacco Wars’—global litigation strategies	Commentary	USA, Australia, Japan, Norway, Israel, Canada, Bangladesh, India, Uganda, Nepal and Continental Europe	To explore global tobacco litigation strategies with four key elements: compensation/recovery, advertising restrictions, criminal liability and public interest writ litigation	Better regulation of tobacco industry and reduction in smoking prevalence	Tobacco industry/companies	Civil society and advocates
Desmond et al, 2009⁹⁰	https://doi.org/10.2307/20460106	Relative response: ranking country responses to HIV and AIDS	Research article—quantitative study or case study	Global	To support efforts to hold governments accountable their commitments to respond to HIV	Better governance and outcomes for HIV/AIDS	National governments	Civil society organisation (AIDS Accountability International)
Labonte and Marriott, 2010⁹¹	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60625-3	IHP+: little progress in accountability or just little progress?	Commentary	Global	To review and comment on the IHP+report	Better governance of development assistance for health	International donor agencies, bilateral donors, national governments of LMICs receiving assistance	International partnership of multiple actors (IHP+)
Marouf, 2010⁷⁸	https://www.hhrjournal.org/2013/08/holding-the-world-bank-accountable-for-leakage-of-funds-from-africas-health-sector/	Holding the World Bank accountable for leakage of funds from Africa’s health sector	Commentary	Sub-Saharan Africa	To explore the accountability of international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, for human rights violations related to the massive leakage of funds from sub-Saharan Africa’s health sector	Elimination of corruption in development assistance for health	Multilateral development agency (World Bank)	Self-accountability through internal processes
Schrecker et al, 2010⁸³	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.06.042	Advancing health equity in the global marketplace: how human rights can help	Commentary	Global	To analyse the relevance of the international human rights framework to the goal of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health to reducing health disparities	Realisation of health-related rights	National governments	Civil society and advocacy organisations
Leinster, 2011⁹⁵	https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2011.590253	Evaluation and assessment of social accountability in medical schools	Review—narrative	Cuba, Venezuela, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Philippines	To describe processes to evaluate and assess the social accountability of medical schools	Improvement in community health	Medical schools	International partnership of medical schools (THEnet)
McKimm and McLean, 2011⁹⁶	https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2011.590245	Developing a global health practitioner: time to act?	Review—narrative	Global	To acknowledge that creating a global health practitioner requires international collaboration and places the onus of social accountability on academic leaders	Improvement in community health	Medical schools	International partnership of medical schools (Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools)
Palsdottir and Neusy, 2011⁹⁷	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2011.02.001	Global health: networking innovative academic institutions	Research article—case study	South Africa, Cuba, Venezuela, Canada, Australia, Philippines	To describe the Training for Health Equity Network (THEnet)	Improvement in community health	Medical schools	International partnership of medical schools (THEnet)
Gómez and Atun, 2012⁷⁹	https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-8-25	The effects of Global Fund financing on health governance in Brazil	Research article—case study	Brazil	To examine the impact of Global Fund investments at several tiers of health governance in Brazil	Better governance of TB prevention and control	Multiple levels of government in Brazil	Civil society organisations
London and Schneider, 2012⁸⁴	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.022	Globalisation and health inequalities: can a human rights paradigm create space for civil society action?	Research article—case study	South Africa	To explore the seeming contradiction that globalisation is conceived as disempowering nations states’ ability to act in their population’s interests, yet implementation of human rights obligations requires effective states to deliver socioeconomic entitlements, such as health	Realisation of health-related rights	National government of South Africa	Parliament, civil society organisations
Meier et al, 2012⁸⁵	https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/935/	Bridging international law and rights-based litigation: mapping health-related rights through the development of the global health and human rights database	Research article—case study	Global	To describe the Global Health and Human Rights Database	Realisation of health-related rights	National governments	Academic institutions, civil society organisations
Requejo et al, 2013⁹²	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001416	Measuring coverage in MNCH: challenges and opportunities in the selection of coverage indicators for global monitoring	Review—narrative	75 countries where >95% of all maternal and child deaths occur	To examine the process and implications of selecting a core set of coverage indicators for global monitoring of maternal and child mortality	Reduction in maternal and child mortality	National governments	International partnership of multiple actors (Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Survival), special global monitoring body (Commission on Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health)
Rosinski et al, 2013⁹³	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067320	Developing a scorecard to assess global progress in scaling up diarrhoea control tools: a qualitative study of academic leaders and implementers	Research article—qualitative study	Global	To explore the opportunities for using a scorecard as a policy tool for increasing the use of key preventive and therapeutic diarrhoea control tools	Reduction in the burden of diarrhoea in children	National governments	International partnership of multiple actors (national governments, academic institutions and civil society organisations)
Yassi et al, 2013⁹⁹	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-013-9182-y	The ethics of ethics reviews in global health research: case studies applying a new paradigm	Research article—case study	Canada, Honduras, South Africa, Ecuador	To conduct a critical analysis of three case studies of research conducted in LMICs and apply emerging ethical guidelines and principles specific to global health research	Ethical global health research collaborations	Academic institutions	Ethics review committees
Amaya et al, 2014¹⁰¹	https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2013.878957	After the Global Fund: who can sustain the HIV/AIDS response in Peru and how?	Research article—case study	Peru	To examine the transition from Global Fund support to increasing national HIV/AIDS funding in Peru by analysing actor roles, motivations and effects on policies, identifying recommendations to inform decision-makers on priority areas	Better governance and outcomes for HIV/AIDS	Multiple levels of government in Peru, non-government organisations	Multiple actors
Bruen et al, 2014⁷	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-014-0073-9	A concept in flux: questioning accountability in the context of global health cooperation	Review—narrative	Global	To examine the changing and distributed nature of global health cooperation and reflect on the concept and practice of accountability in the context of global health cooperation	Better governance of development assistance for health	Multiple actors	Multiple actors
McGuire, 2015⁹⁴	https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.008599	Actions and accountability to accelerate the world’s progress on nutrition	News article	Global	To describe the content of the Global Nutrition Report 2014	Reduction in the burden of malnutrition in children	Multiple actors	International partnership (Joint Child Malnutrition Monitoring Group of the UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank)
Murphy et al, 2015¹⁰⁰	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-014-9604-6	Making a commitment to ethics in global health research partnerships: a practical tool to support ethical practice	Research article—case study	Canada, Africa	To describe a process of consultation on global health research partnerships that led to a call for improved ethical conduct in research partnerships	Ethical global health research collaborations	Academic institutions	Self-accountability through the Partnership Assessment Toolkit
Thomas et al, 2015⁸⁶	https://www.hhrjournal.org/2015/11/assessing-the-impact-of-a-human-rights-based-approach-across-a-spectrum-of-change-for-womens-childrens-and-adolescents-health/	Assessing the impact of a human rights-based approach across a spectrum of change for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health	Commentary	Global	To present a framework to measure results in a way that offers a more nuanced understanding of the impact of human rights-based approaches and their complexity, as well as their contextual, multisectoral and evolving nature	Realisation of health-related rights for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health	National governments	Multiple actors
Hawkes and Buse, 2016⁸⁷	https://www.ijhpm.com/article_3166.html	Searching for the right to health in the Sustainable Development Agenda	Commentary	Global	To propose that the significance of the SDGs lies in their ability to move beyond a biomedical approach to health and healthcare, and to seize the opportunity for the realisation of the right to health in its fullest, widest, most fundamental sense	Realisation of health-related rights for SDGs and UHC	National governments	Multiple actors
McDougall, 2016¹⁰²	https://www.ijhpm.com/article_3153.html	Power and politics in the global health landscape: beliefs, competition and negotiation among global advocacy coalitions in the policy-making process	Research article—case study or qualitative study	Global	To examine how coalitions negotiate among themselves and exercise hidden forms of power to produce policy on the basis of their beliefs and strategic interests	Improvement in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health	National governments	International partnership (Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health)
Moon and Omole, 2017⁸⁰	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133116000463	Development assistance for health: critiques, proposals and prospects for change	Review—narrative	Global	To offer a systematic overview of problems and proposals for change in development assistance for health	Better governance of development assistance for health	International funding agencies, national governments of LMICs receiving assistance	Multiple actors
Rodríguez et al, 2017⁸¹	https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.179861	Political commitment for vulnerable populations during donor transition	Policy and practice paper	Global	To argue that, for reasons linked to human rights, it is critical that governments sustain health services for vulnerable populations during and after donor transition	Better governance of development assistance for health and improved health for vulnerable groups	International funding agencies, national governments of LMICs receiving assistance	Civil society organisations
Yamin and Meleche, 2017⁸⁸	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-017-0128-0	Realising Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in East Africa: the relevance of human rights	Commentary	East Africa	To apply human rights-based approaches to questions that countries undertaking efforts towards UHC and promoting women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, will need to face, including meaningful oversight and accountability processes	Improvement in women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health, UHC	National governments	Civil society organisations
Ageborg, 2018⁵²	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31365-5	Transparency and accountability in AstraZeneca’s access to healthcare programmes	Correspondence	Kenya, Ethiopia	To clarify points regarding AstraZeneca’s access programmes	Ethical global health research collaborations	Pharmaceutical industry	Scientific journal and self-accountability
Barros et al, 2018⁵³	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-018-0836-7	Towards a global monitoring system for implementing the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health: developing a core set of indicators for government action on the social determinants of health to improve health equity	Research article—case study	Global	To describe the selection of indicators proposed to be part of the initial WHO global system for monitoring action on the Social Determinants of Health	Better governance to address Social Determinants of Health and improvement in health equity	National governments	Multilateral organisation (WHO)
Boerma et al, 2018⁵⁴	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30104-1	Countdown to 2030: tracking progress towards universal coverage for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health	Review—narrative	81 countries with the highest reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition burden	To assess the progress of 81 countries in meeting outcome targets related to maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition	Improvement in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health	National governments	International partnership (Countdown 2030)
Clark, 2018⁵⁵	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30428-8	Report card shows gender is missing in global health	Commentary	Global	To describe the work of Global Health 50/50 and how it contributes to gender equality	Gender equality	Multiple actors	International partnership (Global Health 50/50)
El Bcheraoui et al, 2018⁵⁶	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203647	Advantages and disadvantages of channelling GAVI’s health system strengthening funds through health partners, a case study	Research article—case study	Chad, Cameroon	To investigate the process and effect of channelling GAVI’s health systems strengthening funds through health partners to inform the global health community about the added value of this solution	Better governance of development assistance for health	National governments of Chad, Cameroon	Multilateral public-private partnership (GAVI)
Johnson et al, 2018⁵⁷	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-018-0174-2	Global Abortion Policies Database: a new approach to strengthening knowledge on laws, policies and human rights standards	Policy and practice paper	Global	To describe the Global Abortion Policies Database	Realisation of health-related rights for SDGs	National governments	Civil society organisations and human rights advocacy groups
Paschke et al, 2018⁵⁸	https://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.17.206516	Increasing transparency and accountability in national pharmaceutical systems	Policy and practice paper	Global	To provide a conceptual understanding of how transparency can facilitate accountability for better access to medicines	Better governance of the pharmaceutical system and access to quality medicines	National governments, pharmaceutical industry	Multiple actors
Ward et al, 2018⁵⁹	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-017-0319-4	Good collaborative practice: reforming capacity building governance of international health research partnerships	Commentary	Global	To examine the extent to which provisions of international health research guidance and legislation promote capacity building and equitable partnerships in global health research	Ethical global health research collaborations	Research institutions	Self-accountability through guidelines or agreements
Ajuebor et al, 2019⁶⁰	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0392-2	Are the Global Strategic Directions for Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery 2016–2020 being implemented in countries? Findings from a cross-sectional analysis	Research article—cross-sectional mixed-methods study	Global	To analyse the strengths and weaknesses in implementing the strategic directions for strengthening nursing and midwifery in the context of the SDGs, and identify opportunities for future policy reforms	Stronger nursing and midwifery workforce	National governments	Multilateral organisation (WHO)
Boelen et al, 2019⁶¹	https://doi.org/10.4103/efh.EfH_204_19	Accrediting excellence for a medical school’s impact on population health	Commentary	Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, UK, USA	To advocate for stronger links between accreditation systems and health system challenges to better contribute towards health for all	Socially accountabile schools and improvement in community health	Health professional schools	International partnership of health professional schools
Kavanagh and Chen, 2019⁶²	http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.2505	Governance and health aid from the Global Fund: effects beyond fighting disease	Research article—quantitative study	112 LMICs	To describe the results of an analysis of a unique dataset on Global Fund financing alongside key indicators of governance and development over the past 15 years to empirically explore the impact of the Fund	Better governance of development assistance for health	Ministries of Health, non-government organisations (eg, Action Aid Malawi)	Multisectoral institution (the Global Fund)
Pratt, 2019⁶³	https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czz041	Towards inclusive priority-setting for global health research projects: recommendations for sharing power with communities	Research article—qualitative study	Africa, Australia, Europe, USA, Latin America, Asia	To argue that, before moving ahead with priority-setting for global health research projects, it is vital to assess whether contextual factors necessary for meaningful engagement between researchers and marginalised communities are present or can be built in the research setting	Ethical global health research collaborations	Research/academic institutions, funding agencies	Communities
Prideaux, 2019⁶⁴	https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13630	The global–local tension in medical education: turning ‘think global, act local’ on its head?	Review—narrative	Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, China, Latin America, Belgium, Sudan, South Africa, Nepal, Philippines	To explore the global–local tension in medical education within a context that recognises that global health is marked by inequity and a consequent need to address global health disparities	Socially accountable schools and improvement in community health	Medical schools	International partnership of medical schools (THEnet)
Yamin and Mason, 2019⁶⁵	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30434-9	Why accountability matters for UHC and meeting the SDGs	Commentary	Global	To describes how the Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) contributes to accountability for meeting UHC and the SDGs	Improvement in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health	National governments	Special high-level body (UN Secretary General’s IAP)
Aktar et al, 2020⁶⁶	http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002253	How to prevent and address safeguarding concerns in global health research programmes: practice, process and positionality in marginalised spaces	Policy and practice paper	Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Sierra Leone	To share the process and practice relating to safeguarding within the Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub, known as ARISE	Ethical global health research collaborations	International organisations providing services to vulnerable groups in LMICs	International partnership of multiple actors (Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub, or ARISE)
Kohler and Bowra, 2020⁶⁷	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00629-5	Exploring anticorruption, transparency and accountability in the WHO, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Group and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria	Review—systematic literature review	Global	To explore how international organisations are implementing measures to promote accountability and transparency, and anticorruption in their own operations	Better governance of global health institutions	Multilateral global health institutions (WHO, UNDP, World Bank, Global Fund)	Self-accountability through internal processes
Sacks et al, 2020⁶⁸	https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-100919-114442	Benchmarking as a public health strategy for creating healthy food environments: an evaluation of the INFORMAS Initiative (2012–2020)	Policy and practice paper	58 countries	To describe INFORMAS, an international network that monitors and benchmarks food environments and related policies that has resulted in the development and widespread application of standardised methods for assessing the characteristics of food environments	Healthy food environments and systems	National governments	International partnership of multiple actors (INFORMAS)
Smits and Champagne, 2020⁶⁹	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-0525-z	Governance of health research funding institutions: an integrated conceptual framework and actionable functions of governance	Review—narrative	Canada, UK, Australia, USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Singapore	To identify the main functions of governance for health research funding institutions	Better governance of global health funding and more ethical global health research collaborations	Global health funding organisations	Multiple actors and self-accountability
Vian, 2020⁷⁰	https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1694744	Anticorruption, transparency and accountability in health: concepts, frameworks and approaches	Review—narrative	Global	To summarise concepts, frameworks and approaches used to identify corruption risks and consequences of corruption on health systems and outcomes and inventory interventions to increase transparency and accountability	Better governance for SDGs and UHC	National governments	Civil society organisations
Chang et al, 2021⁷¹	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00753-w	The Global Fund: why anticorruption, transparency and accountability matter	Research article—case study	Global	To understand anticorruption, transparency and accountability implementations and their impacts over the past decade in the Global Fund	Better governance of global health institutions	Multisectoral institution (Global Fund) and multiple levels of government	Multiple actors
Christen and Conteh, 2021⁷²	http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006827	How are mathematical models and results from mathematical models of vaccine-preventable diseases used, or not, by global health organisations?	Research article—qualitative study	Europe, North America, Asia	To examine how research evidence on global burden of disease and vaccine impact estimates is used by global health organisations to strengthen global immunisation systems	Reduction in burden of disease	Global health institutions (eg, BMGF Foundation, GAVI)	Multiple actors
Fitzgerald et al, 2021⁷³	https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.11.03045	Global health and social accountability: an essential synergy for the 21st century medical school	Commentary	USA, Kenya, Canada, Ecuador	To argue that when global health and social accountability each draw on the strength of the other, these endeavours can be reinforced in a powerful synergy that enables them to realise their full potential	Socially accountable schools and improvement in community health	Medical schools	Self-accountability
Kiendrébéogo et al, 2021⁷⁴	http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004273	Reinforcing locally led solutions for UHC: a logic model with applications in Benin, Namibia and Uganda	Policy and practice paper	Benin, Namibia, Uganda	To present new ways for LMICs to gain more control of their development assistance programming as they move towards UHC	Better governance of development assistance for UHC	National governments	Multiple actors
Saxena and Kline, 2021⁷⁵	https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00391-6	Data to drive action and accountability	Commentary	Global	To describe the Countdown Global Mental Health 2030	Improvement in mental health	National governments	International partnership of multiple actors (Countdown Global Mental Health)
Schaaf and Khosla, 2021⁴⁹	http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006033	Necessary but not sufficient: a scoping review of legal accountability for sexual and reproductive health in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs)	Review—scoping review	Global	To explore the links between legal accountability strategies and changes in the desired sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes	Realisation of health-related rights for sexual and reproductive health	National governments	Civil society organisations
Thomas and Brown, 2021⁷⁶	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04115	Using feedback to improve accountability in global environmental health and engineering	Commentary	Global	To propose that the application of smarter, more actionable monitoring and decision support systems and aligned financial incentives can enhance accountability between donors, implementers, service providers, governments and the people who are the intended beneficiaries of development programming	Better governance of environmental health interventions in LMICs	Multiple actors	Multiple actors
Debie et al, 2022⁷⁷	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-022-00858-7	Successes and challenges of health systems governance towards UHC and global health security: a narrative review and synthesis of the literature	Review—narrative	Global	To synthesise the evidence and identify successes and challenges of health systems governance towards UHC and health security	Attainment of UHC and health security	National governments	Multiple actors

*Edited for brevity, clarity and correctness.

ARISE, Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub; BMGF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; IAP, Independent Accountability Panel; IHP+, International Health Partnership Plus; INFORMAS, International Network for Food and Obesity/noncommunicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support; LMIC, low- and middle-income country; MNCH, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; SDG, Sustainable Development Goal; the Global Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; THEnet, Training for Health Equity Network; UHC, Universal Health Coverage; UNICEF, United Nations Children's Fund; WHO, World Health Organization.