Articles

Governance of health research in four eastern and southern African countries

Health research governance is an essential function of national health research systems. Yet many African countries have not developed strong health research governance structures and processes. This paper pre...

Authors: Pamela A. Juma, Catherine M. Jones, Rhona Mijumbi-Deve, Clare Wenham, Tiny Masupe, Joelle Sobngwi-Tambekou, Godfrey Biemba, Namuunda Mtombo and Justin Parkhurst

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era

There is now rapidly growing global awareness of the potential of large-scale community health worker (CHW) programmes not only for improving population health but, even more importantly, for accelerating the ...

Authors: Joseph M. Zulu and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 3. Programme governance

Community health workers (CHWs) can play a critical role in primary healthcare and are seen widely as important to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The COVID-19 pandemic has e...

Authors: Simon Lewin, Uta Lehmann and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 5. Roles and tasks

This is the fifth of our 11-paper supplement on “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of a New Era.” When planning new community health worker (CHW) roles or expanding existing roles, programme planners need t...

Authors: Claire Glenton, Dena Javadi and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 9. CHWs’ relationships with the health system and communities

This is the ninth paper in our series, “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of a New Era”. Community health workers (CHWs) are in an intermediary position between the health system and the community. While th...

Authors: Karen LeBan, Maryse Kok and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 7. Recent advances in supervision

Supervision is essential for optimizing performance and motivation of community health workers (CHWs). This paper, the seventh in our series, “Community health workers at the dawn of a new era”, supplements th...

Authors: Carey Westgate, David Musoke, Lauren Crigler and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 6. Recruitment, training, and continuing education

This is the sixth of our 11-paper supplement entitled “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of New Era”. Expectations of community health workers (CHWs) have expanded in recent years to encompass a wider array...

Authors: Meike J. Schleiff, Iain Aitken, Mohammad Ariful Alam, Zufan Abera Damtew and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 11. CHWs leading the way to “Health for All”

This is the concluding paper of our 11-paper supplement, “Community health workers at the dawn of a new era”.

Authors: Henry B. Perry, Mushtaque Chowdhury, Miriam Were, Karen LeBan, Lauren Crigler, Simon Lewin, David Musoke, Maryse Kok, Kerry Scott, Madeleine Ballard and Steve Hodgins

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 1. Introduction: tensions confronting large-scale CHW programmes

Community health worker (CHW) programmes are again receiving more attention in global health, as reflected in important recent WHO guidance. However, there is a risk that current CHW programme efforts may resu...

Authors: Stephen Hodgins, Maryse Kok, David Musoke, Simon Lewin, Lauren Crigler, Karen LeBan and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 10. Programme performance and its assessment

While the evidence supporting the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programmes is substantial, there is also considerable evidence that many of these programmes have notable weaknesses that need t...

Authors: Maryse Kok, Lauren Crigler, David Musoke, Madeleine Ballard, Steve Hodgins and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 4. Programme financing

This is the fourth of our 11-paper supplement on “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of New Era”. Here, we first make the case for investing in health programmes, second for investing in human resources for ...

Authors: Lizah Masis, Angela Gichaga, Tseday Zerayacob, Chunling Lu and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 8. Incentives and remuneration

This is the eighth in our series of 11 papers on “CHWs at the Dawn of a New Era”. Community health worker (CHW) incentives and remuneration are core issues that affect the performance of individual CHWs and th...

Authors: Christopher J. Colvin, Steve Hodgins and Henry B. Perry

Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 2. Planning, coordination, and partnerships

Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in grassroots healthcare and are essential for achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals. While there is a critical shortage of essential h...

Authors: Muhammad Mahmood Afzal, George W. Pariyo, Zohra S. Lassi and Henry B. Perry

What do end-users want to know about managing the performance of healthcare delivery systems? Co-designing a context-specific and practice-relevant research agenda

Despite increasing interest in joint research priority-setting, few studies engage end-user groups in setting research priorities at the intersection of the healthcare and management disciplines. With health s...

Authors: Jenna M. Evans, Julie E. Gilbert, Jasmine Bacola, Victoria Hagens, Vicky Simanovski, Philip Holm, Rebecca Harvey, Peter G. Blake and Garth Matheson

Conducting decolonizing research and practice with Australian First Nations to close the health gap

The purpose of this paper is to highlight a perspective for decolonizing research with Australian First Nations and provide a framework for successful and sustained knowledge translation by drawing on the rece...

Authors: Pamela Laird, Anne B. Chang, John Jacky, Mary Lane, André Schultz and Roz Walker

Collaboration on evidence synthesis in Africa: a network study of growing research capacity

Evidence-based practice in medicine and social policy relies heavily on evidence synthesis. To translate evidence into practical guidelines for low- and middle-income countries, local expertise is essential. T...

Authors: Jiayi Pan, Yongqi Zhong, Sarah Young and Nynke M. D. Niezink

Support mechanisms for research generation and application for postgraduate students in four universities in Uganda

A large proportion of postgraduate students the world over complete a research thesis in partial fulfilment of their degree requirements. This study identified and evaluated support mechanisms for research gen...

Authors: E. A. Obuku, R. Apunyo, G. Mbabazi, D. K. Mafigiri, C. Karamagi, F. Sengooba, J. N. Lavis and N. K. Sewankambo

Inclusive planning: African policy inventory and South African mobility case study on the exclusion of persons with disabilities

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and universal design (UD) principles call for inclusive planning. Within the transportation field, this includes the development or improvement of facilities that accom...

Authors: Marianne J. W. A. Vanderschuren and Obiora A. Nnene

Development, characteristics and impact of quality improvement casebooks: a scoping review

Quality improvement (QI) casebooks, compilations of QI experiences, are one way to share experiential knowledge that healthcare policy-makers, managers and professionals can adapt to their own contexts. Howeve...

Authors: Natalie N. Anderson and Anna R. Gagliardi

COVID-19: protocol for observational studies utilizing near real-time electronic Australian general practice data to promote effective care and best-practice policy—a design thinking approach

Health systems around the world have been forced to make choices about how to prioritize care, manage infection control and maintain reserve capacity for future disease outbreaks. Primary healthcare has moved ...

Authors: Andrew Georgiou, Julie Li, Christopher Pearce, Adam McLeod, Nasir Wabe, Rae-Anne Hardie, Guilherme Saffi Franco, Chisato Imai, Gorkem Sezgin, Judith Thomas, Zhaoli Dai, Muhammad Kashif Sheikh, Amanda Proposch, Stephen Weeding, Brendon Wickham, Tony Badrick…

Coevolution of COVID-19 research and China’s policies

In the era of evidence-based policy-making (EBPM), scientific outputs and public policy should engage with each other in a more interactive and coherent way. Notably, this is becoming increasingly critical in ...

Authors: Xi Cheng, Li Tang, Maotian Zhou and Guoyan Wang

Correction to: The pragmatic, rapid, and iterative dissemination and implementation (PRIDI) cycle: adapting to the dynamic nature of public health emergencies (and beyond)

Authors: Reza Yousefi Nooraie, Rachel C. Shelton, Kevin Fiscella, Bethany M. Kwan and James M. McMahon

Fundamental challenges in assessing the impact of research infrastructure

Clinical research infrastructure is one of the unsung heroes of the scientific response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The extensive, long-term funding into research support structures, skilled people, and ...

Authors: Sana Zakaria, Jonathan Grant and Jane Luff

How has implementation been incorporated in health technology assessments in the United Kingdom? A systematic rapid review

Health interventions in a clinical setting may be complex. This is particularly true of clinical interventions which require systems reorganization or behavioural change, and/or when implementation involves ad...

Authors: Robert Heggie, Kathleen Boyd and Olivia Wu

Institutional-level drivers of gender-inequitable scientific career progression in sub-Saharan Africa

This study sought to determine how institutional environments, including values, policies, and their implementation, shape inequities in scientific career progression for women and men, and their disadvantages...

Authors: Millicent L. Liani, Isaac K. Nyamongo, Justin Pulford and Rachel Tolhurst

Involvement of professionals in research: knowledge integration, development of practice, and challenges: a group concept mapping study

Research and practice are often considered as two different worlds with different values, which causes a gap between them. Involving professionals such as practitioners, managers, decision-makers, and policy-m...

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

Researching, co-creating and testing innovations in paper-based health information systems (PHISICC) to support health workers’ decision-making: protocol of a multi-country, transdisciplinary, mixed-methods research programme in three sub-Saharan countries

Health information systems are crucial to provide data for decision-making and demand for data is constantly growing. However, the link between data and decisions is not always rational or linear and the manag...

Authors: Xavier Bosch-Capblanch, David O’Donnell, L. Kendall Krause, Christian Auer, Angela Oyo-Ita, Mamadou Samba, Graça Matsinhe, Abdullahi Bulama Garba, Damaris Rodríguez, Meike Zuske, Anthonia Ngozi Njepuome, Sofia Micael Mandjate Lee, Amanda Ross, Suzanne Gajewski, Artur Manuel Muloliwa, Richard B. Yapi…

The value and promise of embedded research

Authors: Abdul Ghaffar, Anuradha Gupta, Aboubacar Kampo and Soumya Swaminathan

Using participatory action research to improve immunization utilization in areas with pockets of unimmunized children in Nigeria

In 2005, Nigeria adopted the Reaching Every Ward strategy to improve vaccination coverage for children 0–23 months of age. By 2015, Ogun state had full coverage (100%) in 12 of its 20 local government areas, b...

Authors: Ngozi N. Akwataghibe, Elijah A. Ogunsola, Oluwafemi A. Popoola, Adanna I. Agbo and Marjolein A. Dieleman

Cross-cutting lessons from the Decision-Maker Led Implementation Research initiative

Almost 20 million children under one year of age did not receive basic vaccines in 2019, and most of these children lived in low- and middle-income countries. Implementation research has been recognized as an ...

Authors: Arielle Mancuso, Shahira Ahmed Malm, Alyssa Sharkey, A. S. M. Shahabuddin and Zubin Cyrus Shroff

The influence of linkages, feedback mechanisms, and caregiver mobility on immunization follow-up visits in Lideta sub-city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a qualitative study

Losing children to follow-up is one of the major barriers identified in Ethiopia’s immunization programme. In many urban slum areas like Lideta sub-city, Addis Ababa, several demand- and supply-side factors af...

Authors: Thewodros Zewde, Alula Teklu, Diriba Bedada and Yoseph Tsehaye

Decision-maker led implementation research on immunization: learning from low- and middle-income countries

Authors: Zubin Cyrus Shroff, Arielle Buijs Mancuso, Alyssa Sharkey, A. S. M. Shahabuddin, Binay Kumar, Hope Johnson and Abdul Ghaffar

Social media, vaccine hesitancy and trust deficit in immunization programs: a qualitative enquiry in Malappuram District of Kerala, India

With increased penetration of the internet and social media, there are concerns regarding its negative role in influencing parents’ decisions regarding vaccination for their children. It is perceived that a mi...

Authors: Anoop T. Nair, Kesavan Rajasekharan Nayar, Shaffi Fazaludeen Koya, Minu Abraham, Jinbert Lordson, Chitra Grace, Sreekutty Sreekumar, Priya Chembon, Kamala Swarnam, A. Marthanda Pillai and Anant Kumar Pandey

Unveiling and addressing implementation barriers to routine immunization in the peri-urban slums of Karachi, Pakistan: a mixed-methods study

Great disparities in immunization coverage exist in Pakistan between urban and rural areas. However, coverage estimates for large peri-urban slums in Sindh are largely unknown and implementation challenges rem...

Authors: Amna Tanweer Yazdani, Ameer Muhammad, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Uzma Khan and Yasir Shafiq

A qualitative study of the development and utilization of health facility-based immunization microplans in Uganda

In 2006, Uganda adopted the Reaching Every District strategy with the goal of attaining at least 80% coverage for routine immunizations in every district. The development and utilization of health facility/dis...

Authors: David Kaawa Mafigiri, Constance Iradukunda, Catherine Atumanya, Michael Odie, Arielle Mancuso, Nhan Tran, Janet McGrath and Henry Luzze

Using health data for decision-making at each level of the health system to achieve universal health coverage in Ethiopia: the case of an immunization programme in a low-resource setting

For evidence-based decision-making, there is a need for quality, timely, relevant and accessible information at each level of the health system. Limited use of local data at each level of the health system is ...

Authors: Binyam Tilahun, Alemayehu Teklu, Arielle Mancuso, Berhanu F. Endehabtu, Kassahun D. Gashu and Zeleke A. Mekonnen

Potential barriers to and facilitators of civil society organization engagement in increasing immunization coverage in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria: an implementation research

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are important in health care delivery. They have the potential to play significant roles in immunization-related services, such as advocacy, health education, demand creation...

Authors: Aniekan Etokidem, Festus Nkpoyen, Comfort Ekanem, Enagu Mpama and Anastasia Isika

Evaluation of the feasibility and sustainability of the joint human and animal vaccination and its integration to the public health system in the Danamadji health district, Chad

One Health approaches such as the Joint human and animal vaccination programmes (JHAVP) are shown to be feasible and to increase health care access to hard-to-reach communities such as mobile pastoralists. How...

Authors: Mahamat Fayiz Abakar, Djimet Seli, Filippo Lechthaler, Lisa Crump, Arielle Mancus, Nhan Tran, Jakob Zinsstag and Daniel Cobos Muñoz

The pragmatic, rapid, and iterative dissemination and implementation (PRIDI) cycle: adapting to the dynamic nature of public health emergencies (and beyond)

Public health emergencies—such as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic—accelerate the need for both evidence generation and rapid dissemination and implementation (D&I) of evidence where it is most needed. In this paper...

Authors: Reza Yousefi Nooraie, Rachel C. Shelton, Kevin Fiscella, Bethany M. Kwan and James M. McMahon

The usability and applicability of knowledge translation theories, models, and frameworks for research in the context of a national health service

Translating research findings into service improvements for patients and/or policy changes is a key challenge for health service organizations. The Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland launched the Action...

Authors: Virginia Minogue, Karen Matvienko-Sikar, Catherine Hayes, Mary Morrissey, Gregory Gorman and Ana Terres

Rethinking approaches of science, technology, and innovation in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic: the challenge of translating knowledge infrastructures to public needs

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak made it clear that despite the potential of science, technology, and innovation (ST&I) to positively impact healthcare systems worldwide, as shown by the rapid ...

Authors: Renan Gonçalves Leonel da Silva, Roger Chammas and Hillegonda Maria Dutilh Novaes

Aiming for quality: a global compass for national learning systems

Transforming a health system into a learning one is increasingly recognized as necessary to support the implementation of a national strategic direction on quality with a focus on frontline experience. The app...

Authors: Diana Sarakbi, Nana Mensah-Abrampah, Melissa Kleine-Bingham and Shams B. Syed

Building the field of food systems research: commentary on a research funder’s role

The Food, Environment, and Health (FEH) program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) aims to improve the health of low- and middle-income country populations by generating evidence, innovati...

Authors: Hayley Pelletier, Leah Bleecker, Victoria Sauveplane-Stirling, Erica Di Ruggiero and Daniel Sellen

An evaluation of the Victorian Salt Reduction Partnership’s advocacy strategy for policy change

Public health advocacy strategies facilitate policy change by bringing key health issues to the forefront of public and political discourse, influencing decision-makers and public opinion, and increasing polic...

Authors: Emalie Rosewarne, Michael Moore, Wai-Kwan Chislett, Alexandra Jones, Kathy Trieu and Jacqui Webster

Assessing the performance of a method for case-mix adjustment in the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG) system and its policy implications

To evaluate the performance of the patient clinical complexity level (PCCL) mechanism, which is the patient-level complexity adjustment factor within the Korean Diagnosis-Related Groups (KDRG) patient classifi...

Authors: Sujeong Kim, Byoongyong Choi, Kyunghee Lee, Sangmin Lee and Sukil Kim

Can intersectionality help with understanding and tackling health inequalities? Perspectives of professional stakeholders

The concept of “intersectionality” is increasingly employed within public health arenas, particularly in North America, and is often heralded as offering great potential to advance health inequalities research...

Authors: Daniel Holman, Sarah Salway, Andrew Bell, Brian Beach, Adewale Adebajo, Nuzhat Ali and Jabeer Butt

The household financial burden of non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

The chronic nature of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) and costs associated with long-term care can result in catastrophic health expenditure for the patient and their household pushing them deeper into poverty ...

Authors: Joseph Kazibwe, Phuong Bich Tran and Kristi Sidney Annerstedt

Understanding the complexity of population health interventions: assessing intervention system theory (ISyT)

Given their inherent complexity, we need a better understanding of what is happening inside the “black box” of population health interventions. The theory-driven intervention/evaluation paradigm is one approac...

Authors: Linda Cambon and François Alla

A 10-year longitudinal evaluation of science policy interventions to promote sex and gender in health research

Over the past decade, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has implemented multicomponent interventions to increase the uptake of sex and gender in grant applications. Interventions included manda...

Authors: Jenna Haverfield and Cara Tannenbaum

A cross-country comparison of malaria policy as a premise for contextualized appropriation of foreign aid in global health

Foreign aid continues to play an essential role in health sector development in low-resource countries, particularly in terms of providing a vital portion of their health expenditures. However, the relationshi...

Authors: Tomas Jezek and Oluwaseun Adebayo Bamodu