On 29 November 2016, Nigeria gave birth to the first Society for Health Policy Research and Knowledge Translation at Abakaliki in Nigeria. Founding President of the Society, Dr Jesse Uneke said, “The launch of this Society represents nearly 8 years of advocating and building the field of health policy and systems."
"This Society will connect researchers and policy makers so as to develop health policies that would improve the functioning of the overall health system. We need to ensure that all Nigerians can enjoy better quality, affordable and accessible health care”
Dr Jesse Uneke, Founding President of the Society
"This Society will connect researchers and policy makers so as to develop health policies that would improve the functioning of the overall health system. We need to ensure that all Nigerians can enjoy better quality, affordable and accessible health care,” added Uneke.
Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Abdul Ghaffar congratulated Nigeria on this landmark event, “The launch of this Society signifies the institutionalization of health systems research as an intrinsic part of policy-making. This is a good example of participatory leadership for joint action on the part of researchers and policy-makers,” said Ghaffar.
Tracing the birth of the Society for Health Policy Research and Knowledge Translation
The Society’s inception can be traced back to 2008, when Uneke attended an Annual Global Development Conference, which included a workshop session titled 'Interdisciplinary Research for Development” in Brisbane, Australia. The workshop reflected on the key implications for using an interdisciplinary approach for research.
Putting theory into practice, just three months later, Uneke established an interdisciplinary Health Policy and Systems Research Team, comprised of 5 researchers from the health and social sciences at Ebonyi State University. The team authored and published 6 review articles on Nigeria’s health systems and health policy processes.
The Alliance grant spurs momentum
Late in 2008, this team responded to a Call for Proposals issued by the Alliance. The team’s proposal was successful and received funding to undertake research entitled: Development, implementation, and evaluation of individual staff skills and institutional incentives for capacity enhancement in health policy and systems research evidence use in policy making in Nigeria from 2009-2011.
Uneke recalls, “Our first grant in health policy and health systems research from the Alliance was the catalyst! The grant along with the technical support received, enabled us to develop adequate research skills and capacity in HPSR as well as for evidence-informed policy-making in Nigeria.”
This project enabled Uneke and team to work extensively with national, state and district policymakers on evidence-to-policy processes. Recognizing the value of this work, policymakers also wanted to join this effort, which led to the formation of the first Nigerian Health Policy Advisory Committee at Ebonyi State in 2011.
Through the Alliance's support more than 20 scientific articles have been published, most of them indexed in PUBMED. Also an Operational Manual for Strengthening Institutional Capacity to Employ Evidence in Health Policymaking for Developing Countries: The Nigeria Experience was developed.
Strengthening HPSR Capacity
To further strengthen the capacity of policy makers, the Team developed a three-month Executive Certificate Course on Health Policy, at Ebonyi State University in 2012. To date, 87 health stakeholders mainly policy makers, researchers and NGO executives and others have been trained.
Building on this success, in April 2015, Uneke and team initiated the establishment of the first African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems at Ebonyi State University. Currently, the Institute is working with the Alliance on another innovative project, ‘Policy Information Platforms’ which aims to provide access to existing policy-relevant knowledge in both indexed publications and grey literature in a user-friendly format to inform policy-making.
- Implementation of a health policy advisory committee as a knowledge translation platform: the Nigeria experience
- Uncovering evidence: Making the most of grey literature and local knowledge in health decision making
Coupled with these interventions, in 2015 an exchange programme was established between the Ebonyi State University and the Ministry of Health (MOH) through the support of TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. This programme enables researchers to spend time in the MOH and policy makers at the university.
“All of these interventions are aimed at ensuring that health systems research is rooted in policy making. To do this we needed to create linkages between researchers and policy makers as well as strengthen their capacity in HPSR. The progress we have achieved is possible due to the participative leadership and cordial working relationships and trust that exist between the researchers and the policymakers”, said Uneke.
Next steps
The Society is already a hive of activity as it works to expand its membership base, commence the publication of the International Journal of Health Policy Research and Knowledge Translation, and provide technical advice and research services.