Mapping healthcare leadership interventions and their performance in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Background: Healthcare leadership development programmes (LDPs) are gaining recognition globally as enablers for competent leadership. Sub-Saharan Africa countries are also implementing healthcare leadership development initiatives. Aim: This scoping review sought to map healthcare leadership interventions and their performance in sub-Saharan Africa. Setting: Sub-Saharan Africa. Method: A search of relevant articles was performed in PubMed, Semantic Scholar, and Academia, for articles written in English and published between 2003 and 2023. The Arksey and O’Malley framework was used to map the published studies. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews were used to report the results (PRISMA-ScR). Results: One hundred and ten articles were retrieved. Twenty-eight articles were included in the review. Twenty-one per cent (n = 6) of the studies on LDPs were conducted in South Africa. Twenty-one per cent (n = 6) used the ‘case study’ design, 18% mixed-method (n = 5) and 14% (n = 4) used qualitative study designs. Twenty-three of the 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa conducted LDPs. Four programmes are postgraduate university degrees with entry requirements, while two programmes do not have any formal entry requirements Conclusion: Healthcare LDPs exist in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they are marketed as ‘healthcare leadership development’, while their content is management development. Contribution: This article summarises the research on the state and contributions of the healthcare LDPs in sub-Saharan Africa. Development of all future healthcare LDPs must consider applicable policies and be based on curricula that are focused on healthcare leadership competency development across all functional areas in the healthcare service delivery value chain.