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Background:
Maternal and newborn deaths and ill health are relatively common in low income countries, but can adequately be addressed through locally, collaboratively designed, and responsive research. This has the potential to enable the affected women, their families and health workers themselves to explore 'why maternal and newborn adverse outc...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... The research team will directly contact social groups and leaders of institutions, inform and invite them to participate in the PSP. The research team will present the surveys to the partners' group during the launch meeting and introduction meeting at each organisation or group. The partners' group will place survey launch poster (Fig. 3), with inclusion criteria and PSP secretariat or research team contacts, in the partners' premises to advertise the ...
Citations
... The guidance recommends use of comprehensive approaches to improve the quality and transparency of the exercise. 24 One widely recommended approach, which has been used previously in Africa, 25 is a methodology designed by the James Lind Alliance (JLA). 26 Well-described and freely available, it consists of four steps which are aligned to the planning and implementation phases of the WHO cycle as follows (see figure 2): 1. Initiation: Establish a group of stakeholders. ...
Introduction
Poor adolescent mental health is a barrier to achieving several sustainable development goals in Tanzania, where adolescent mental health infrastructure is weak. This is compounded by a lack of community and policy maker awareness or understanding of its burden, causes and solutions. Research addressing these knowledge gaps is urgently needed. However, capacity for adolescent mental health research in Tanzania remains limited. The existence of a National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), with a nationwide mandate for research conduct and oversight, presents an opportunity to catalyse activity in this neglected area. Rigorous research priority setting, which includes key stakeholders, can promote efficient use of limited resources and improve both quality and uptake of research by ensuring that it meets the needs of target populations and policy makers. We present a protocol for such a research priority setting study and how it informs the design of an interinstitutional adolescent mental health research capacity strengthening strategy in Tanzania.
Methods and analysis
From May 2021, this 6 month mixed-methods study will adapt and merge the James Lind Alliance approach and validated capacity strengthening methodologies to identify priorities for research and research capacity strengthening in adolescent mental health in Tanzania. Specifically, it will use online questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, focus groups, scoping reviews and a consensus meeting to consult expert and adolescent stakeholders. Key evidence-informed priorities will be collaboratively ranked and documented and an integrated strategy to address capacity gaps will be designed to align with the nationwide infrastructure and overall strategy of NIMR.
Ethics and dissemination
National and institutional review board approvals were sought and granted from the National Health Research Ethics Committee of the NIMR Medical Research Coordinating Committee (Tanzania) and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom). Results will be disseminated through a national workshop involving all stakeholders, through ongoing collaborations and published commentaries, reviews, policy briefs, webinars and social media.
... While, in recent years, there have been efforts to set program and/or disease-speci c health research priorities within Uganda (28,29), to date, there are no recent undertakings on the stock of research in Uganda to better inform future research, to use resources more effectively and e ciently, and to reduce fragmentation of the responsible agencies, research institutions, and research funding agencies. ...
Background: Over the years, several approaches to health research priority setting (HRPS) have been devised and applied in low-incomes countries for national level research prioritization. However, there is often a disconnect between the evidence that health policymakers require for decision-making and the research that receives funding. There is a need for countries to evaluate their prioritization processes to support strategies to translate priority setting into policy practice. While health research priority setting is continuously carried out in Uganda, these processes are rarely reported on the scholarly literature and have not been evaluated. This study aimed to describe and evaluate HRPS in Uganda.
Methods: This was a qualitative case study consisting of document review and key informant interviews with stakeholders who had either directly participated in or had specialized knowledge of HRPS in Uganda.
Results: While Uganda has established and legitimized a National health research organization to set health research priorities, coordinate and provide oversight for health research in the country, several institutions independently conduct their own health research priority setting. The evaluation revealed that while the priority setting processes are often based on systematic approaches and tools and tended to be evidence based, most of the prioritization processes lacked stakeholder involvement and implementation. Moreover, the priorities were not publicized and none had mechanisms for appeals or revisions. In only one case were the priorities implemented.
Conclusions: The availability of strong political commitment and a national priority setting institution is an opportunity for strengthening health research priority setting. There should be increased support for the institution to enable it to carry out its duties. The institution should not only invest in participatory, systematic health research priority setting and implementation but evaluation as well in order for them to identify areas for improvement.
I am a Professor at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University; and Uganda Christian University. I have a broad background in medicine and public health with expertise in malaria, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases control; healthy systems, policy development and programming.
Previously I was Director General Health Services supervising all community and clinical programs in the Ministry of Health. Over time, I provided technical leadership and concluded a package of strategic interventions to improve health service delivery in Uganda. As Director of Health Services, I was a member of the Country Coordination Mechanism (CCM) providing oversight for the implementation of Global
Fund Grants to control of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB in Uganda. As a Commissioner of Health Services and later as Director of Health Services, I coordinated multiple development partners in the control of epidemics and disease outbreaks involving VHFs, typhoid, cholera, malaria, Avian flu, and Rift Valley Fever. As assistant Commissioner of Health Services and head of the Reproductive Health program, I
spearheaded several innovations and strategies that improved access to sexual and reproductive health services with reduced fertility, increased access to contraception and adolescent health services; and reduction in maternal and infant mortality in Uganda.
