Table 1. Characteristics of Key Articles Used in Review.
| Study | Type | Disease or Condition Covered | Scope | Studies Included, No. (Total Cited, No.) | WHO Building Blocks Addressed | Types of NPHW Participants | Total Study Participants, No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mutamba et al,42 2013 | Systematic review | Mental, neurological, and substance abuse disorders | All studies comparing lay community health workers community-level care for these diseases to a control in LMICs | 5 (15) | Service delivery, health workforce | Lay community health workers | 15 039 (7900 intervention; 7139 control) |
| Joshi et al,10 2014 | Systematic review | All NCDs | All peer-reviewed, English language articles up to 2013 that discuss task-shifting of NCDs to NPHWs | 16 (22) | Health workforce, medication access, governance | Nurses or laypersons without medical training | Not provided |
| Ogedegbe et al,45 2014 | Systematic review | CVD | All peer-reviewed, English-language randomized clinical trials up to 2013 to evaluate task-shifting for CVD management in LMICs | 2 (3) | Service delivery, health workforce, information systems, governance | Nonphysician clinicians involved in treatment or risk management | 3002 |
| Khetan et al,40 2017 | Systematic review | CVD | All articles from 1990-2015 involving CHWs for CVD (no other NCDs; no other NPHWs); not limited to randomized clinical trials. | 8 (11) | Service delivery, health workforce | CHWs (persons trained in intervention but without formal health training) | 78 524 |
| Jeet et al,49 2017 | Systematic review | All NCDs (apart from mental health) | All randomized clinical trials from 2000-2015 involving CHWs for NCDs (no other trial types; no other NPHWs) | 5 (16) | NA | CHWs, but these included nurses and “health promoters” among many other NPHWs | 6621 (Diastolic blood pressure); 6782 (systolic blood pressure); 1342 (diabetes) 7302 (tobacco use) inter alia |
| Schneider et al,9 2016 | Scoping review | All diseases | All articles from 2005-2014 that described an LMIC CHW intervention, regardless of condition | 11 (678) | NA | CHWs (lacking formal nursing or medical training) | Not provided |
| Padmanathan et al,41 2013 | Systematic review | Mental illness | All English-language peer-reviewed and gray literature (any study design) on feasibility and acceptability of task-sharing for mental health care in LMICs | 8 (21) | Service delivery, health workforce | Any nonspecialist clinician (including nurses, medical officers, and CHWs) | >1116 (Data incomplete) |
| Abdel-All et al,44 2017 | Systematic review | CVD | All peer-reviewed studies published until December 2016 regarding training of CHWs for prevention or control of CVD (and/or risk factors) in LMICs | 2 (8) | Health workforce | CHWs (from community; usually lack formal training) | 722 |
| Seidman et al,48 2017 | Systematic review | All diseases | All literature regarding the cost-effectiveness of nonphysicians for care provision in LMICs (for NCD and non-NCD care) | 2 (34) | NA | Any less-specialized health worker (including assistant medical officers) | Not provided |
| Chowdhary et al,43 2014 | Systematic review | Perinatal depression | All literature regarding nonspecialist (including generalist physician) perinatal depression care in LMICs | 2 (9) | Service delivery, health workforce | Nonspecialist health workers including nurses, CHWs, mothers | 14 555 (7526 Intervention; 7029 control) |
| Barnett et al,39 2017 | Systematic review | Mental illness | All literature regarding CHW (not other NPHWs) care for mental health care in LMIC and high-income countries | 9 (39) | Service delivery | CHWs (interventionists without mental health training and from community) | 10 199 |
| Hill et al,47 2017 | Systematic review | Diabetes | All literature regarding use of CHWs (not other NPHWs) care for diabetes prevention (not treatment) in LMICs and high-income countries | 1 (30) | NA | Lay CHWs (nonprofessionals recruited usually from community served) | 5834 (Data incomplete) |
| Alaofè et al,50 2017 | Systematic review | Diabetes | All literature regarding use of CHWs (not other NPHWs) care for diabetes prevention and treatment in LMICs | 5 (10) | NA | CHWs (community members without formal health training) | 69 998 |
| Gatuguta et al,38 2017 | Systematic review | Sexual violence, trauma | All literature regarding use of CHWs to treat survivors of sexual violence in LMICs and high-income countries | 2 (7) | Health workforce | CHWs (community members without formal health training) | 961 (Data incomplete) |
| Javadi et al,46 2017 | Systematic review | Mental illness | All literature regarding nonphysician task-shifting for mental health care in LMICs | 23 (30) | NA | Laypersons with minimal mental health training | 701 864 (Data incomplete) |
Abbreviations: CHW, community health worker; CVD, cardiovascular disease; LMIC, low- and middle-income country; NA, not applicable; NCD, noncommunicable disease; NPHW, nonphysician health worker; WHO, World Health Organization.