A presentation on 'Knowledge for Universal Health Coverage' was made by Dr Abdul Ghaffar (Executive Director, Alliance) at a regional meeting on Applied Research on Health Policy and Systems to Support Universal Health Coverage (UHC), held 26-27 November by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila, Philippines.
The meeting follows the recent endorsement of a 'Regional Framework of Action for Universal Health Coverage' by all member states during the Western Pacific Regional Committee meeting as well as the adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals by the UN General Assembly, which includes a goal to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
The meeting acknowledged the complexity acknowledged the complexity of the task to achieve UHC and the value of evidence-informed policy-making especially in low- and lower-middle income countries where competing resource priorities exist. The meeting was attended by 20 participants from 10 member states in WHO Western Pacific Region.
Key recommendations
Key recommendations arising from the meeting include: making the health systems and policy research agenda an integral part of multi-year national health plans; facilitating the development and strengthening of 'process' and platforms for institutionalizing the relationship between researchers and policy-makers; improving accessibility and quality of routinely collected data for health systems and policy research; some suggestive actions to improve 'credibility' and 'relevance' of health systems and policy research to improve its utilization; and institutional capacity building in health systems and policy research.