Developing the African national health research systems barometer
Date
2016-07-22
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: A functional national health research system (NHRS) is crucial in strengthening a country’s health system to promote, restore and maintain the health status of its population. Progress towards the goal of universal health coverage in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda will be difficult for African
countries without strengthening of their NHRS to yield the required evidence for decision-making. This study aims to develop a barometer to facilitate monitoring of the development and performance of NHRSs in the African Region of WHO.
Methods: The African national health research systems barometer algorithm was developed in response to a
recommendation of the African Advisory Committee for Health Research and Development of WHO. Survey
data collected from all the 47 Member States in the WHO African Region using a questionnaire were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and analysed. The barometer scores for each country were calculated and the performance interpreted according to a set of values ranging from 0% to 100%.
Results: The overall NHRS barometer score for the African Region was 42%, which is below the average of
50%. Among the 47 countries, the average NHRS performance was less than 20% in 10 countries, 20–40% in
11 countries, 41–60% in 16 countries, 61–80% in nine countries, and over 80% in one country. The performance of NHRSs in 30 (64%) countries was below 50%.
Conclusion: An African NHRS barometer with four functions and 17 sub-functions was developed to identify the gaps in and facilitate monitoring of NHRS development and performance. The NHRS scores for the individual sub-functions can guide policymakers to locate sources of poor performance and to design
interventions to address them.
Description
CITATION: Kirigia, J. M., et al. 2016. Developing the African national health research systems barometer. Health Research Policy and Systems, 14:53, doi:10.1186/s12961-016-0121-4.
The original publication is available at http://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at http://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
National health services -- Research, National health research systems -- Africa, National health research systems -- Measurement, Public health administration -- Research
Citation
Kirigia, J. M., et al. 2016. Developing the African national health research systems barometer. Health Research Policy and Systems, 14:53, doi:10.1186/s12961-016-0121-4.