Health Policy and Systems Research: Building Momentum and Community
Health Policy and Systems Research: Building Momentum and Community[1]
16 January 2015
By Abdul Ghaffar (AHPSR), Nhan Tran (AHPSR), John-Arne Røttingen (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) & Marie-Paule Kieny (WHO)
Originally published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (December 2014)
In October 2014, nearly 2000 people from 125 countries shared and debated issues that are critical to improving the performance of health systems, at the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, in Cape Town, South Africa (1). Such research was barely visible on the global health agenda until 1996, when the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Ad Hoc Committee on Health Research identified health systems research as an important but neglected field (2). Now, as shown by the success of three global symposia, governments worldwide clearly recognize the need for such research to build resilient health systems. A wide range of public health disasters – including the current Ebola epidemic – have drawn attention to the devastation that can rapidly develop in countries with weak health systems.
The three global symposia, WHO’s development of a strategy on health policy and systems research in 2012 (3) and the 2013 world health report on research for universal health coverage (4) represent some important milestones in the field. Within the last decade, many collaborations and partnerships have emerged and dedicated entities – such as the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the professional society Health Systems Global – have been developed. The participation of the United States of America’s Global AIDS Coordinator in the Cape Town symposium is one indicator that health policy and systems research is valued by actors who have historically identified with specific disease areas. Such actors are now turning to systems sciences and applying the methods of health policy and systems research to overcome the common challenges of implementation, integration and sustainability.
Although political engagement will be critical to the strengthening of health systems, it must go beyond those decision-makers who act at national level. Most changes to health systems occur at subnational levels because it is district health officers and senior programme managers who are largely responsible for the implementation of national policies. Policy and systems resea
