Advancing the application of systems thinking in health

Excerpt

The past two decades have witnessed an increased recognition among global health stakeholders of the importance of systematically considering the complex adaptive nature of health systems to better anticipate some of the unexpected and counterintuitive consequences of implementing current and new policies. This is evidenced by the increased interest in topics such as systems thinking, complex adaptive systems, and systems science in the published health literature over the past 20 years (Figure 1). However, the majority of these publications are from high-income countries, while the need for applying these concepts is at least as great in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Figure 2). Most of these studies discuss the concepts or make the case for the utility of systems thinking for health systems strengthening; there is still a dearth in practical guidance on how systems thinking concepts, approaches, and tools can be applied in health systems research and practice to reach sustainable solutions [1, 2].

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