Health Research Web (HRWeb) : key information for health research management; the 54th Annual Council, Saint Lucia, April 22nd, 2009

PowerPoint presentationThis presentation by the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) reviews objectives of the Health Research Web (HRWeb) in terms of health research management, which enables informed decision making at the national level. Added functionalities of the HRWeb Platform include: facilitating social networking; provision of statistic assessments; links to research ethics legislation and guidelines; a log of search history; and private user groups. It also provides links to relevant sites: Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet), TropiKA.net, BIREME (Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences, and others

Join the Health Research Web global community

Libarary has Spanish version: Health Research Web : acceso a datos e información esenciales sobre investigación en saludThe brochure provides key information about the Health Research Web (HRWeb) platform. The Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) has designed Health Research Web [www.healthresearchweb.org] as a global forum to share all relevant information on health research by country. The brochure also provides a list of partners and supporters and encourages interested parties to join the health research community

Stakeholders' Participation in Planning and Priority Setting in the Context of a Decentralised Health Care system: the case of prevention of mother to child Transmission of HIV Programme in Tanzania.

In Tanzania, decentralisation processes and reforms in the health sector aimed at improving planning and accountability in the sector. As a result, districts were given authority to undertake local planning and set priorities as well as allocate resources fairly to promote the health of a population with varied needs. Nevertheless, priority setting in the health care service has remained a challenge. The study assessed the priority setting processes in the planning of the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme at the district level in Tanzania. This qualitative study was conducted in Mbarali district, south-western Tanzania. The study applied in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in the data collection. Informants included members of the Council Health Management Team, regional PMTCT managers and health facility providers. Two plans were reported where PMTCT activities could be accommodated; the Comprehensive Council Health Plan and the Regional PMTCT Plan that was donor funded. As donors had their own globally defined priorities, it proved difficult for district and regional managers to accommodate locally defined PMTCT priorities in these plans. As a result few of these were funded. Guidelines and main priority areas of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) also impacted on the ability of the districts and regions to act, undermining the effectiveness of the decentralisation policy in the health sector. The challenges in the priority setting processes revealed within the PMTCT initiative indicate substantial weaknesses in implementing the Tanzania decentralisation policy. There is an urgent need to revive the strategies and aims of the decentralisation policy at all levels of the health care system with a view to improving health service delivery

A systematic review of existing national priorities for child health research in sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: We systematically reviewed existing national child health research priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the processes used to determine them. METHODS: Collaborators from a purposive sample of 20 WHO-AFRO Region countries, assisted by key informants from a range of governmental, non-governmental, research and funding organisations and universities, identified and located potentially eligible prioritisation documents. Included documents were those published between 1990 and 2002 from national or nationally accredited institutions describing national health research priorities for child health, alone or as part of a broader report in which children were a clearly identifiable group. Laboratory, clinical, public health and policy research were included. Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility for inclusion and extracted data. RESULTS: Eight of 33 potentially eligible reports were included. Five reports focused on limited areas of child health. The remaining three included child-specific categories in reports of general research priorities, with two such child-specific categories limited to reproductive health. In a secondary analysis of Essential National Health Research reports that included children, though not necessarily as an identifiable group, the reporting of priorities varied markedly in format and numbers of priorities listed, despite a standard recommended approach. Comparison and synthesis of reported priorities was not possible. CONCLUSION: Few systematically developed national research priorities for child health exist in sub-Saharan Africa. Children's interests may be distorted in prioritisation processes that combine all age groups. Future development of priorities requires a common reporting framework and specific consideration of childhood priorities

Registering New Drugs for Low-Income Countries: The African Challenge

Mary Moran and colleagues discuss the best strategies for African regulators to be supported in their efforts to evaluate and approve drugs for their own populations

The WTO TRIPS Agreement, the right to health and access to medicines in Africa

There is no gainsaying the fact that access to affordable medicine is an issue that continues to elicit a considerable degree of concern all over the world albeit the effects of the problem are evidently more devastating in the developing countries. The international patent regime under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) is seen as a major part of the global access to medicine problem. Patents are exclusive ownership and exploitation rights granted in respect of inventions possessing a degree of novelty, some scintilla of inventiveness over what is already known and having significant utility value2 . Prior to the advent of the TRIPS Agreement, most developing countries did not extend patent protection to pharmaceutical products. As a consequence, in those developing countries that either excluded pharmaceuticals from patenting or did not yet have a patent system in force, and that had indigenous manufacturing capacity, generic firms were able to enter the market and sell medicines at considerably lower prices than the originator pharmaceutical companies, whilst also driving prices of the original drugs down by the competitive force they exerted in the market. 3 However with the advent of TRIPS, all WTO countries became bound to grant patents for pharmaceuticals to meet their obligations under TRIPS4 . The TRIPS patent regime has therefore made it extremely difficult and nigh impossible for countries to use the types of measures that were formerly available to them to address the access to medicine problem

some remarks on the experiences of health researchers from Mozambique and Angola

This paper analyzes capacity building in practice, addressing the expectations, imaginaries and experiences of health researchers from Mozambique and Angola. The empirical data stems from the Erasmus+ funded project "University Development and Innovation - Africa (UDI-A)", a consortium established between European and African institutions to promote the mobility and empowerment of African academics, the establishment of North/South research partnerships and the strengthening of African institutions. Through qualitative research methods - semi-structured interviews and a focus group with African participants, and participant observation - this article analyzes the experiences of African academics working in the health field, their perceptions of capacity building and aspirations during their stay in Portugal in 2018. By addressing some of their concerns and achievements, this paper reflects on the performativity of capacity building methodologies, exploring a wide range of issues that emerge within the framework of North/South partnerships, inquiring whether it would be possible to decolonize capacity-building methodologies.publishersversionpublishe