Articles

How to disseminate national recommendations for physical activity: a qualitative analysis of critical change agents in Germany

Physical activity recommendations are reached by only a small part of the population. A common problem is that research findings on public health-related topics such as physical activity promotion are oftentim...

Authors: Laura Wolbring, Anne Kerstin Reimers, Claudia Niessner, Yolanda Demetriou, Steffen Christian Ekkehard Schmidt, Alexander Woll and Hagen Wäsche

Measuring the impact of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion on access to primary care using an interrupted time series approach

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was created to increase access to primary care, improve quality of care, and decrease healthcare c...

Authors: Elizabeth A. Brown, Brandi M. White, Walter J. Jones, Mulugeta Gebregziabher and Kit N. Simpson

Learning from public health and hospital resilience to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: protocol for a multiple case study (Brazil, Canada, China, France, Japan, and Mali)

All prevention efforts currently being implemented for COVID-19 are aimed at reducing the burden on strained health systems and human resources. There has been little research conducted to understand how SARS-...

Authors: Valéry Ridde, Lara Gautier, Christian Dagenais, Fanny Chabrol, Renyou Hou, Emmanuel Bonnet, Pierre-Marie David, Patrick Cloos, Arnaud Duhoux, Jean-Christophe Lucet, Lola Traverson, Sydia Rosana de Araujo Oliveira, Gisele Cazarin, Nathan Peiffer-Smadja, Laurence Touré, Abdourahmane Coulibaly…

Systemic factors for enhancing intersectoral collaboration for the operationalization of One Health: a case study in India

One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach—working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the inter...

Authors: Sandul Yasobant, Walter Bruchhausen, Deepak Saxena and Timo Falkenberg

Boundary spanning and identity work in the clinical research delivery workforce: a qualitative study of research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in the National Health Service, United Kingdom

Research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals are members of an important emergent profession delivering clinical research and, in the United Kingdom, have been the focus of considerable investment...

Authors: A. McNiven, M. Boulton, L. Locock and L. Hinton

Systematic review and policy dialogue to determine challenges in evidence-informed health policy-making: findings of the SASHA study

Various interventions have been undertaken in Iran to promote evidence-informed health policy-making (EIHP). Identifying the challenges in EIHP is the first step toward strengthening EIHP in each country throu...

Authors: Bahareh Yazdizadeh, Haniye Sadat Sajadi, Farideh Mohtasham, Mahsa Mohseni and Reza Majdzadeh

Agenda setting for essential medicines policy in sub-Saharan Africa: a retrospective policy analysis using Kingdon’s multiple streams model

Lack of access to essential medicines presents a significant threat to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in sub-Saharan Africa. Although it is acknowledged that essential medicines policies do not rise...

Authors: Alison T. Mhazo and Charles C. Maponga

Barriers and facilitators to conducting economic evaluation studies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: a survey of researchers

The number of published economic evaluations of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is notably scarce. Limited local evidence could have a major impact on the implementation of economic evaluation recomme...

Authors: Saja H. Almazrou, Shiekha S. Alaujan and Sinaa A. Al-Aqeel

Research priority-setting for human, plant, and animal virology: an online experience for the Virology Institute of the Philippines

Viral pandemics have had catastrophic consequences on population health and economies. The Philippine government intends to establish the Virology Institute of the Philippines, one of the key areas of which wi...

Authors: Reneepearl Kim Sales, Joseph Oraño, Rafael Deo Estanislao, Alfredo Jose Ballesteros and Ma. Ida Faye Gomez

Applying a framework to assess the impact of cardiovascular outcomes improvement research

Health and medical research funding agencies are increasingly interested in measuring the impact of funded research. We present a research impact case study for the first four years of an Australian National H...

Authors: Mitchell N. Sarkies, Suzanne Robinson, Tom Briffa, Stephen J. Duffy, Mark Nelson, John Beltrame, Louise Cullen, Derek Chew, Julian Smith, David Brieger, Peter Macdonald, Danny Liew and Chris Reid

The role of partners in promoting self-care for misoprostol and subcutaneous DMPA in Pakistan

Pakistan is among a number of countries facing protracted challenges in addressing maternal mortality with a concomitant weak healthcare system complexed with inequities. Sexual and reproductive health and rig...

Authors: Qudsia Uzma, Nausheen Hamid, Rizwana Chaudhri, Nadeem Mehmood, Atiya Aabroo, Ellen Thom, Karima Gholbzouri, Ramez Mahaini and Nilmini Hemachandra

Changing national health policies for introduction, uptake and scale-up of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Authors: Manjulaa Narasimhan, Briana Lucido, Lale Say, Karima Gholbzouri, Maha El-Adawy and Ahmed Al Mandhari

Sexual and reproductive health self-care interventions in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: findings from a cross-sectional values and preferences survey to inform WHO normative guidance on self-care interventions

Self-care strategies for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) include practices, tools, and strategies for people to manage their health. Access to SRH services has increased in the Eastern Mediterranean Regio...

Authors: Carmen H. Logie, Heather Abela, Tarek Turk, Samantha Parker and Karima Gholbzouri

Regulatory standards and processes for over-the-counter availability of hormonal contraception and drugs for medical abortion in five countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

The World Health Organization 2019 WHO consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health: sexual and reproductive health and rights includes recommendations on self-administration of injectable contrac...

Authors: Anne Ammerdorffer, Mark Laws, Arinze Awiligwe, Florence Erb, Wallada Im-Amornphong, A. Metin Gülmezoglu, Lester Chinery, Briana Lucido and Manjulaa Narasimhan

Community-led HIV self-testing for men who have sex with men in Lebanon: lessons learned and impact of COVID-19

In Lebanon, HIV is concentrated in both native and refugee communities of men who have sex with men (MSM). For over 10 years, the National AIDS Program (NAP) has offered HIV voluntary counselling and testing t...

Authors: Ismael Maatouk, Mostafa El Nakib, Moubadda Assi, Patrick Farah, Bertho Makso, Clara El Nakib and Alissar Rady

The role of community pharmacists in increasing access and use of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: examples from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Somalia

Self-care interventions offer a solution to support the achievement of three goals of the World Health Organization (WHO): to improve universal health coverage, reach people in humanitarian situations, and imp...

Authors: Luna El Bizri, Laila Ghazi Jarrar, Wael K. Ali Ali and Abdifatah H. Omar

The role of parliamentarians in promoting self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health and rights: applying COVID-19 lens in the Eastern Mediterranean region

Innovative people-centered care modalities including self-care interventions offer an opportunity to ensure continuity of healthcare services during COVID-19 and in post-COVID-19, as well as contribute to the ...

Authors: Hala Abou-Taleb, Nada Mohamed, Karima Gholbzouri, Elisa Scolaro, Inaya Ezzeddine, Souhail Alouini, Heba Hagrass, Magdy Morshed and Neil Datta

Collective reflections on the first cycle of a collaborative learning platform to strengthen rural primary healthcare in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Frontline managers and health service providers are constrained in many contexts from responding to community priorities due to organizational cultures focused on centrally defined outputs and targets. This pa...

Authors: Maria van der Merwe, Lucia D’Ambruoso, Sophie Witter, Rhian Twine, Denny Mabetha, Jennifer Hove, Peter Byass, Stephen Tollman and Kathleen Kahn

The prevention of – and first response to – injuries in Nepal: a review of policies and legislation

Injuries, the cause of an estimated 4.5 million deaths annually and many more disabilities worldwide each year, are the predictable outcome of particular circumstances. One of the most effective ways to preven...

Authors: Puspa Raj Pant, Julie Mytton, Milan Raj Dharel, Amrit Dangi, Writu Bhatta Rai and Sunil Kumar Joshi

Structural barriers to knowledge transfer and exchange among men and women in low-, middle- and high-income countries: an international cross-sectional study with vaccine researchers in 44 countries

Globally, women constitute 30% of researchers. Despite an increasing proportion of women in research, they are still less likely to have international collaborations. Literature on barriers to knowledge transf...

Authors: Soha El-Halabi, Ronan McCabe, Birger C. Forsberg, Devy L. Elling and Ziad El-Khatib

Investigating the nature and quality of locally commissioned evaluations of the NHS Vanguard programme: an evidence synthesis

With innovation in service delivery increasingly viewed as crucial to the long-term sustainability of health systems, NHS England launched an ambitious new model of care (Vanguard) programme in 2015. Supported...

Authors: Paul Wilson, Jenny Billings, Julie MacInnes, Rasa Mikelyte, Elizabeth Welch and Kath Checkland

Enabling visibility of the clinician-scientists’ knowledge broker role: a participatory design research in the Dutch nursing-home sector

A group of clinician-scientists and managers working within a Dutch academic network, experienced difficulties in clearly defining the knowledge broker role of the clinician-scientists. They found no role clar...

Authors: Margot Barry, Wietske Kuijer, Anke Persoon, Loek Nieuwenhuis and Nynke Scherpbier

Implementation research training for learners in low- and middle-income countries: evaluating behaviour change after participating in a massive open online course

Implementation research (IR) can play a critical role in the delivery of disease control interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The growing demand for IR training has led to t...

Authors: Pascal Launois, Dermot Maher, Edith Certain, Bella Ross and Michael J. Penkunas

A scoping review of international policy responses to mental health recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s physical and mental health. Quarantine and other lockdown measures have altered people’s daily lives; levels of anxiety, depression, substance use, self-harm and sui...

Authors: Claire McCartan, Tomas Adell, Julie Cameron, Gavin Davidson, Lee Knifton, Shari McDaid and Ciaran Mulholland

Lessons from the pandemic on the value of research infrastructure

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed a spotlight on the resilience of healthcare systems, and their ability to cope efficiently and effectively with unexpected crises. If we are to learn one economic lesson from the...

Authors: Laurence S. J. Roope, Paolo Candio, Vasiliki Kiparoglou, Helen McShane, Raymond Duch and Philip M. Clarke

Promoting knowledge to policy translation for urban health using community-based system dynamics in Brazil

Effectively bridging the knowledge–policy gap to support the development of evidence-based policies that promote health and well-being remains a challenge for both the research and policy communities. Communit...

Authors: Lidia Maria de Oliveira Morais, Jill Kuhlberg, Ellis Ballard, Katherine Indvik, Solimar Carnavalli Rocha, Denise Marques Sales, Letícia de Oliveira Cardoso, Nelson Gouveia, Amélia Augusta de Lima Friche and Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa

Developing a Thai national critical care allocation guideline during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid review and stakeholder consultation

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand had almost depleted its critical care resources, particularly intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators. This prompted the necessity to develop a national ...

Authors: Aniqa Islam Marshall, Rachel Archer, Woranan Witthayapipopsakul, Kanchanok Sirison, Somtanuek Chotchoungchatchai, Pisit Sriakkpokin, Orapan Srisookwatana, Yot Teerawattananon and Viroj Tangcharoensathien

Mapping the burden of diabetes in five small countries in Europe and setting the agenda for health policy and strategic action

Diabetes is a global epidemic affecting every country. Small countries, however, face distinctive challenges related to their health system governance and their ability to implement effective health systems’ r...

Authors: Sarah Cuschieri, Elena Pallari, Natasa Terzic, Ala’a Alkerwi and Árún Kristín Sigurðardóttir

Health research knowledge translation into policy in Zambia: policy-maker and researcher perspectives

The translation of public health research evidence into policy is critical to strengthening the capacity of local health systems to respond to major health challenges. However, a limited amount of public healt...

Authors: Annie Malama, Joseph Mumba Zulu, Selestine Nzala, Maureen Mupeta Kombe and Adam Silumbwe

Identifying advocacy strategies, challenges and opportunities for increasing domestic health policy and health systems research funding in Nigeria: Perspectives of researchers and policymakers

Poor funding for Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) is a major constraint to the development, generation and uptake of HPSR evidence in Low and Middle-Income countries. The study assessed the status of ...

Authors: Ijeoma Nkem Okedo-Alex, Ifeyinwa Chizoba Akamike, Gladys Onyinye Olisaekee, Chinyere Cecilia Okeke and Chigozie Jesse Uneke

Should policy makers trust composite indices? A commentary on the pitfalls of inappropriate indices for policy formation

This paper critically discusses the use and merits of global indices, in particular, the Global Health Security Index (GHSI; Cameron et al.

Authors: Matthias Kaiser, Andrew Tzer-Yeu Chen and Peter Gluckman

Conceptualizing researchers’ perspectives on involving professionals in research: a group concept mapping study

Researchers have shown an increased interest in involving professionals from outside academia in research projects. Professionals are often involved in research on ageing and health when the purpose is to addr...

Authors: Christine E. Laustsen, Albert Westergren, Pia Petersson and Maria Haak

Translating evidence into practice: a longitudinal qualitative exploration of allied health decision-making

Health policy and management decisions rarely reflect research evidence. As part of a broader randomized controlled study exploring implementation science strategies we examined how allied health managers resp...

Authors: Jennifer White, Kellie Grant, Mitchell Sarkies and Terrence Haines

Co-creating physical activity interventions: a mixed methods evaluation approach

Co-creation strategies, such as cooperative planning, are promising as a means to ensure that physical activity interventions address real-world problems and are tailored to the target group. This has already ...

Authors: Johanna Popp, Eva Grüne, Johannes Carl, Jana Semrau and Klaus Pfeifer

Evaluating cancer research impact: lessons and examples from existing reviews on approaches to research impact assessment

Performing cancer research relies on substantial financial investment, and contributions in time and effort from patients. It is therefore important that this research has real life impacts which are properly ...

Authors: Catherine R. Hanna, Kathleen A. Boyd and Robert J. Jones

EVITA 2.0, an updated framework for understanding evidence-based mental health policy agenda-setting: tested and informed by key informant interviews in a multilevel comparative case study

Mental health remains a neglected issue on the global health policy agenda, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and the translation of research evidence into policy and practice is slow. T...

Authors: Nicole Votruba, Jonathan Grant and Graham Thornicroft

Rapid prioritisation of topics for rapid evaluation: the case of innovations in adult social care and social work

Prioritisation processes are widely used in healthcare research and increasingly in social care research. Previous research has recommended using consensus development methods for inclusive research agenda set...

Authors: Katherine Cowan, Naomi J. Fulop, Amelia Harshfield, Pei Li Ng, Antiopi Ntouva, Manbinder Sidhu, Jon Sussex, Sonila M. Tomini and Holly Walton

The how and why of producing policy relevant research: perspectives of Australian childhood obesity prevention researchers and policy makers

Understanding why research is conducted may help address the under-utilisation of research. This study examined the reasons for childhood obesity prevention knowledge production in New South Wales (NSW), Austr...

Authors: Robyn Newson, Lucie Rychetnik, Lesley King, Andrew J. Milat and Adrian E. Bauman

The V-BRCH Project: building clinical trial research capacity for HIV and noncommunicable diseases in Nigeria

Antiretroviral therapy has turned HIV into a chronic condition, with morbidity from HIV-associated noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) becoming more common as HIV-infected individuals live longer. In Nigeria, the ...

Authors: Muktar H. Aliyu, Mahmoud U. Sani, Donna J. Ingles, Fatimah I. Tsiga-Ahmed, Baba M. Musa, Carolyn M. Audet and C. William Wester

PRIMASYS: a health policy and systems research approach for the assessment of country primary health care systems

For the renewed global impetus on primary health care (PHC) to translate into action at a country level, it will be important to strengthen existing ways of understanding and assessing country PHC systems. The...

Authors: Kabir Sheikh and Abdul Ghaffar

The consequences of compromising the EU’s free movement of persons principle on Swiss research: how to survive constrained access to regional funding

Between 2014 and 2016, Switzerland’s access to some of the EU funding was limited after a referendum against mass immigration was accepted and the country refused to sign the free movement accord to the EU’s n...

Authors: Jasmina Saric, Miriam Bolz, Marco Waser and Michael Käser

How to bring research evidence into policy? Synthesizing strategies of five research projects in low-and middle-income countries

Addressing the uptake of research findings into policy-making is increasingly important for researchers who ultimately seek to contribute to improved health outcomes. The aims of the Swiss Programme for Resear...

Authors: Séverine Erismann, Maria Amalia Pesantes, David Beran, Andrea Leuenberger, Andrea Farnham, Monica Berger Gonzalez de White, Niklaus Daniel Labhardt, Fabrizio Tediosi, Patricia Akweongo, August Kuwawenaruwa, Jakob Zinsstag, Fritz Brugger, Claire Somerville, Kaspar Wyss and Helen Prytherch

From fringe to centre-stage: experiences of mainstreaming health equity in a health research collaboration

Action to address the structural determinants of health inequalities is prioritized in high-level initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and many national health strategies. Yet, ...

Authors: Ana Porroche-Escudero, Jennie Popay, Fiona Ward, Saiqa Ahmed, Dorkas Akeju, Jane Cloke, Mark Gabbay, Shaima Hassan, Koser Khan and Esmaeil Khedmati-Morasae

A systems approach to scale-up for population health improvement

Despite a number of important global public health successes, for many health behaviours there is a continued lack of interventions that have been sufficiently scaled up to achieve system-wide integration. Thi...

Authors: Harriet Koorts and Harry Rutter

Exploring mechanisms that explain how coalition groups are formed and how they work to sustain political priority for maternal and child health in Nigeria using the advocacy coalition framework

The unacceptably high rate of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria prompted the government to introduce a free maternal and child health (MCH) programme, which was stopped abruptly following a change in gov...

Authors: Chinyere Okeke, Ana Manzano, Uche Obi, Enyi Etiaba, Obinna Onwujekwe, Tolib Mirzoev and Benjamin Uzochukwu

Assessing organisational capacity for evidence-informed health policy and planning: an adaptation of the ORACLe tool for Australian primary health care organizations

Many nations have established primary health care (PHC) organizations that conduct PHC planning for defined geographical areas. The Australian Government established Primary Health Networks (PHNs) in 2015 to ...

Authors: Alice Windle, Sara Javanparast, Toby Freeman and Fran Baum

A framework for preferred practices in conducting culturally competent health research in a multicultural society

Improving the health and well-being of the whole population requires that health inequities be addressed. In an era of unprecedented international migration, meeting the health care needs of growing multicultu...

Authors: Lisa Woodland, Ilse Blignault, Cathy O’Callaghan and Ben Harris-Roxas

The role of self-care interventions on men’s health-seeking behaviours to advance their sexual and reproductive health and rights

Self-care interventions are influencing people’s access to, expectation and understanding of healthcare beyond formal health delivery systems. In doing so, self-care interventions could potentially improve hea...

Authors: Manjulaa Narasimhan, Carmen H. Logie, Kevin Moody, Jonathan Hopkins, Oswaldo Montoya and Anita Hardon

Demographic forecasting of population aging in Greece and Cyprus: one big challenge for the Mediterranean health and social system long-term sustainability

With an increasing aging population and a lower ratio between the active and the dependent population, population aging is considered a global social and health challenge, associated with increased demand in h...

Authors: Demetris Lamnisos, Konstantinos Giannakou and Mihajlo (Michael) Jakovljevic

Governing heatwaves in Europe: comparing health policy and practices to better understand roles, responsibilities and collaboration

The expectation that climate change will further exacerbate extreme weather events such as heatwaves is of primary concern to policymakers and scientists. Effective governance is fundamental to preparedness fo...

Authors: Kirsten Vanderplanken, Peter van den Hazel, Michael Marx, Ahmad Zia Shams, Debarati Guha-Sapir and Joris Adriaan Frank van Loenhout