Emergency medical services in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of systemic barriers and integration challenges
Alina Pant, Thunwadee Tachapattaworakul Suksaroj, Cheerawit Rattanapan, Orapin Laosee, Piyapong Janmaimool, Kwang Mo Yang · 2026
Read Emergency medical services in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of systemic barriers and integration challenges by Alina Pant, Thunwadee Tachapattaworakul Suksaroj, Cheerawit Rattanapan, Orapin Laosee, Piyapong Janmaimool, Kwang Mo Yang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13254714.txt.
Description
Alina Pant and colleagues review ambulance services in low- and middle-income countries in a 2026 paper. Ambulance systems in these settings range from basic setups to partly integrated national networks. The team searched four databases in March 2025 and included seventeen studies published between 2009 and 2023.
Analysis surfaced five recurring barriers: weak oversight, thin financing, workforce shortages, poor communication, and limited sites. Underneath them sits a deeper problem the authors stress: the system is split into separate pieces. Local volunteers and other responders routinely fill the gaps left by formal services, yet policy frameworks barely acknowledge them. That disconnect, more than raw scarcity alone, explains much of the weak performance. The authors recommend bridging formal and informal systems, making the volunteer tier professional rather than ignoring it. Better staffing and teamwork, they conclude, would lift outcomes even before large new spending arrives.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Alina Pant, Thunwadee Tachapattaworakul Suksaroj, Cheerawit Rattanapan, Orapin Laosee, Piyapong Janmaimool, Kwang Mo Yang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 39 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |