15/11/10

Meeting aims for watershed in health systems research

The symposium is expected to foster international studies on health systems Copyright: Flickr/amref france

By: T.V. Padma

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Meeting aims for watershed in health systems research</h1>
<h4>By: T.V. Padma</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>[MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND] Research on how to improve health delivery and health outcomes has been neglected and must be put on researchers’ agendas, a WHO expert has said ahead of the first global meeting on such research.</span></p>
<p>The <span>First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, organised by the WHO this week (16–19 November) in Montreux, Switzerland, aims to establish health systems research as a "third pole" of health research, alongside biomedical and clinical research. </span></p>
<p><span>Tim Evans, WHO’s outgoing assistant director general for information, evidence and research, told <em>SciDev.Net</em> that scientific research is needed to ensure that everyone benefits from healthcare delivery. </span></p>
<p><span>The symposium aims to dispel the idea that healthcare delivery is a ‘common sense’ problem unrelated to high-quality science, said Evans, who chairs the meeting’s steering committee.</span></p>
<p><span>The meeting is expected to be "a watershed" in sharing evidence on how to use science to accelerate health coverage, he added. </span></p>
<p><span>Over 1,300 researchers from 100 countries will gather to provide evidence-based information to policymakers on how to expand the reach of healthcare systems in developing countries.</span></p>
<p><span>The symposium will address how to evaluate the strength of evidence before using it in health-related policymaking. It is also expected to generate ideas for research and to foster international studies on health systems.</span></p>
<p><span>Research into healthcare delivery "needs to mature and set standards for itself", said Evans. It must also link up with economics and social sciences to help develop more holistic health policies. </span></p>
<p><span>In many poor communities people pay almost 60 per cent of health expenses from their own pockets, said Evans, adding that the present system impoverishes 100 million people every year. </span></p>
<p><span>Ritu Priya Mehrotra of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, told <em>SciDev.Net</em>: "There is a sense of crisis in health systems in developing countries because they are not able to deliver good-quality services or access to services to all". </span></p>
<p><span>One reason is that universal coverage is too expensive for many countries. Another is that recommendations by funding agencies to withdraw publicly funded subsidies in social sectors, such as health and education, have made the situation worse, she said. Developing countries also face workforce shortages and rising prices for drugs and vaccines.</span></p>
<p><span>We need to address health systems research, she said. "But it is also important to be alert to what the thrust of such research is, who is at the helm, and what direction it takes."</span></p>
<p><a href="http://video.who.int/streaming/First_Global_Symposium/Dr_Timothy_Evans_Clip1.wmv"><span>Watch a video interview with Tim Evans (video by WHO)</span></a></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/meeting-aims-for-watershed-in-health-systems-research/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/meeting-aims-for-watershed-in-health-systems-research/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

[MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND] Research on how to improve health delivery and health outcomes has been neglected and must be put on researchers’ agendas, a WHO expert has said ahead of the first global meeting on such research.

The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, organised by the WHO this week (16–19 November) in Montreux, Switzerland, aims to establish health systems research as a "third pole" of health research, alongside biomedical and clinical research.

Tim Evans, WHO’s outgoing assistant director general for information, evidence and research, told SciDev.Net that scientific research is needed to ensure that everyone benefits from healthcare delivery.

The symposium aims to dispel the idea that healthcare delivery is a ‘common sense’ problem unrelated to high-quality science, said Evans, who chairs the meeting’s steering committee.

The meeting is expected to be "a watershed" in sharing evidence on how to use science to accelerate health coverage, he added.

Over 1,300 researchers from 100 countries will gather to provide evidence-based information to policymakers on how to expand the reach of healthcare systems in developing countries.

The symposium will address how to evaluate the strength of evidence before using it in health-related policymaking. It is also expected to generate ideas for research and to foster international studies on health systems.

Research into healthcare delivery "needs to mature and set standards for itself", said Evans. It must also link up with economics and social sciences to help develop more holistic health policies.

In many poor communities people pay almost 60 per cent of health expenses from their own pockets, said Evans, adding that the present system impoverishes 100 million people every year.

Ritu Priya Mehrotra of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, told SciDev.Net: "There is a sense of crisis in health systems in developing countries because they are not able to deliver good-quality services or access to services to all".

One reason is that universal coverage is too expensive for many countries. Another is that recommendations by funding agencies to withdraw publicly funded subsidies in social sectors, such as health and education, have made the situation worse, she said. Developing countries also face workforce shortages and rising prices for drugs and vaccines.

We need to address health systems research, she said. "But it is also important to be alert to what the thrust of such research is, who is at the helm, and what direction it takes."

Watch a video interview with Tim Evans (video by WHO)