On research and global health
Evidence-Based Research to Improve Global Health
Research plays a critical role in almost every field in our lives, even if we are not aware of it. In the areas of health care, public policy and global health, research brings vital new knowledge and innovations. It also supports decision-making, but only if the research-based evidence is used ban those to make decisions that may impact the lives of thousands of people.
Evidence is key in making decisions that help sustain the health of nations and the populations within. But how do we generate useful, evidence-based research? It starts at the moment a researcher – individually or with a team – defines a question and prepares a protocol. Researchers should consider the potential impact of the results on the lives of population and for the improvement of health systems. It is critical to have a clear vision of how the generated evidence could potentially improve, change or innovate programs, strategies and policymaking.
Accountability and transparency in research are more important now than ever. Not only to disclose funding and the use of generated evidence in successful research protocols, but also to show the failures and potential complications of new drugs in clinical trials, a topic widely debated in the scientific community.
For those of us using the results, how do we find what we’re looking for? With more than 42,500 scientific journals (33,100 in English and the rest in other languages) producing more than 29 million citations of biomedical literature and close to 20 million citations to full text articles in PubMed¹, it might feel like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Narrowing it down by category facilitates the searching, but still leaves lots of information to cull through.
Another consideration, what are both sides (researchers and policymakers) doing with the results of all this research? Are the results what policymakers need? Did both sides discuss the problem or develop a research question together?
Researchers and policymakers can look for connections passively or proactively²:
1. Researchers could push their results to the policymakers who might use them. In this case, the researchers are active, and the users are passive.
2. Policymakers and clinicians could pull the evidence they need to implement policies or treat patients. In this case, researchers are passive while users take a more active role.
3. Or the two sides could come together, discuss the problem, develop a research question and, if possible, co-participate in the research, elevating the stakes for use of the generated evidence.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era opens possibilities for this third option – an exchange model – as we work to find evidence that can help countries achieve SDG targets in poverty, health and education, inequality and climate change. This helps direct research to reduce inequalities and ensure no one is left behind. However, the scenario for the future after the pandemic is not very optimistic. Now, more than ever, the scarce resources for research will have to be wisely used as to make the best of go them to restore health systems and to. are these resilient to any kind of threats.
References
1 Dickersin, K. Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine, Spring 2019. Found at https://magazine.jhsph.edu/2019/lost-knowledge-open-science-one-solution-hidden-data. Accessed 2.19.2019
2. Oxman, A. and Hanney, S. SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP), Health Research Policy and Systems, Vol 7 Suppl 1, 16 December 2009. Found at https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/supplements/volume-7-supplement-1. Accessed 2.19.2019
