A bibliography of applications of operational research in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

There continues to be considerable interest in the potential for applying Operational Research (OR) in less‐developed countries. A recent paper provided a bibliography of published research from West Africa. This paper extends that bibliography to the other sub‐Saharan nations, with the omission of South Africa. In some parts of this region, there have been numerous applications described in the literature, while in others there is very little on record. As in the earlier paper, the material has been collected from a wide range of journals, extending from the regular OR literature to many application journals. In addition to the references, the paper describes the manner of collection of this information, and discusses the resulting picture of OR in sub‐Saharan Africa.

Operations research in global health: a scoping review with a focus on the themes of health equity and impact

“…Search results were downloaded in August 2014. We also hand-searched 19 review papers and special issue articles [ 11 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 23 – 33 , 53 – 55 ] for additional references.…”

“…A few recent review papers and bibliographies have explored the use of OR in developing countries; however, these did not specifically focus on healthcare and included several other sectors such as agriculture, energy and transport [11, 23–25]. Others have reviewed the use of OR within a very narrow area of global health (e.g.…”

“…While OR in healthcare in the developed world has been extensively studied in recent years [ 17 – 22 ], the latest review of OR in healthcare in developing countries was published in 1993 [ 10 ]. A few recent review papers and bibliographies have explored the use of OR in developing countries; however, these did not specifically focus on healthcare and included several other sectors such as agriculture, energy and transport [ 11 , 23 – 25 ]. Others have reviewed the use of OR within a very narrow area of global health (e.g.…”

Modelling hospital operations: insight from using data from paper registries in the obstetrics ward at a hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…Although health systems in high-income countries have adopted these methods, the extent to which they are used in low-income and middle-income countries is unclear. In his bibliography of operations research in Africa, Smith identifies 24 studies in Ethiopia using operations research, with only one which was related to health 13. He hypothesised, however, that the apparent scarcity might be due to naming conventions.…”

“…He hypothesised, however, that the apparent scarcity might be due to naming conventions. Practitioners may refer to specific techniques, such as linear programming, rather than operations management research more generally 13. In their survey of existing healthcare operations management research, Onar et al showed that very few papers on healthcare management came from sub-Saharan Africa 14.…”