The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (Alliance HPSR) together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, have jointly awarded 13 grants to decision-makers and researchers in 11 countries to examine how to improve health decision-making in the Americas.
The initiative will help improve existing health programmes, policies and systems by generating knowledge through research that is embedded within existing policy and systems across Latin America and the Caribbean. This embedded research approach aims to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making processes and the creation of tailored solutions to local challenges.
The grants, which will be active in 2018 and 2019, have been awarded to projects that focus on a variety of health issues related to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially SDG3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages) and SDG 10 (Reduce inequalities within and among countries). For example, several grants will conduct research on improving access to and delivery of mental health services. Others are working to understand how best to prevent and control diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and leishmaniasis.
Use the map below to explore each of the grants that have been awarded, along with short project descriptions. A list of the grant projects is also available after the map.
| Country | Grantee | Project | Project objective |
| Argentina | Undersecretary of Health Planning, Ministry of Health of the City of Buenos Aires | The National Program for the Control of Tuberculosis and Leprosy | The programme aims to control tuberculosis from a human rights perspective, avoiding discrimination and stigmatization, understanding that tuberculosis is a contagious and curable disease. |
| Bolivia | Departmental Health Service of Chuquisaca | National Cervical Cancer Program | The reduction of morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer at the national level, through the implementation of strategic interventions for the promotion of health, prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cervical cancer, within the facilities of the national health system. |
| Brazil | Ministry of Health | Careful project of childbirth: monitoring and adoption of good practices for childbirth and childbirth care | Strengthen the adoption of vaginal birth in the Unified Health System through the implementation of the Careful Childbirth Project in 634 maternity wards of the country, especially to reduce the rates of caesarean-sections. |
| Colombia | Ministry of Health of the Department of Cauca | Departmental Program for the Control of Tuberculosis and Leprosy | The programme is responsible for the control of chronic communicable diseases in the department of Cauca. It provides technical assistance to actors in the health system such as providers of health services, companies that administer benefit plans and secretaries of municipal health. |
| Colombia | National Institute of Health | National Program for the Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis | The programme is responsible for defining policies for tuberculosis, supervising and monitoring their implementation, offering training at the departmental and municipal levels, providing technical support and monitoring and evaluation. |
| Dominican Republic | Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance | Program for the formulation of Clinical Practice Guidelines and Care Protocols | To develop Clinical Practice Guidelines and Attention Protocols in the context of the Quality Assurance System for the National Health System in the Dominican Republic. |
| Ecuador | Ministry of Health of the Metropolitan Municipality of Quito | Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in the Metropolitan District of Quito | To promote the adoption of lifestyles that contribute to prevent or control chronic non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular and metabolic; and the early detection of cancers. |
| Guatemala | Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance | National guidelines for the management of cutaneous leishmaniasis | To understand the behavior of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the population including identifying changes in trends and magnitude, and establishing effective and opportune prevention and control measures. |
| Guatemala | Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance | Law of Decentralization of the State and Law of Councils of Urban and Rural Development | To move toward the construction of socio-cultural and economic conditions for health, in the field of health promotion, and the role of local governments in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). |
| Guyana | Vector Control Services – Ministry of Public Health | Operationalization of the national malaria strategy in Guyana | The overall strategic goal is to reduce the incidence of malaria in the endemic regions as an essential step towards the elimination of local transmission. |
| Haiti | Ministry of Health - Departmental Health Direction | Quality Improvement Program Initiatives: The enablers and barriers to successful implementation and desired impact | The programme focuses on initiatives to improve the quality of care delivered at public facilities by examining the factors that contribute to, or inhibit, successful implementation of these methodologies in the setting of a large public hospital and a public community health center. |
| Paraguay | Directorate of Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance | Surveillance of Non-Communicable Diseases | To stop the advancement of chronic diseases in the Paraguayan population, which are currently responsible for disability, death and high costs in the health services of the country. |
| Peru | Ministry of Health | Strengthening of the Continuity of Care and Rehabilitation Program for people with severe mental disorders | This program focuses on the Continuity of Care and Rehabilitation Program for users with severe mental disorders. |