Cross-Cutting Topics
- A Tale of 2 Countries: Implementation of the Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform in Guinea and Kenya
Case studies of Gavi Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform investments in Guinea and Kenya illustrate how countries prioritize and implement large funding and support mechanisms and offer lessons applicable to other countries embarking on similar interventions.
- Health System Resilience: Withstanding Shocks and Maintaining Progress
Building a resilient system capable of responding to health threats while maintaining essential health service delivery requires health systems to embed implementation research capacity to create the knowledge needed, ensure the affordability and accessibility of health care services at all levels of delivery, and provide the range of services needed to meet the population’s needs.
- “You Can’t Look at an Orange and Draw a Banana”: Using Research Evidence to Develop Relevant Health Policy in Ghana
We explored inhibitors and enablers of using health policy and systems research to inform the policy process in Ghana. The findings suggest a myriad of factors influencing evidence-based policy development, including the strength of the relationships between policy makers and research producers.
- The African Health Initiative’s Role in Advancing the Use of Embedded Implementation Research for Health Systems Strengthening
The African Health Initiative has demonstrated the feasibility of changing the traditional knowledge generation paradigm by using an embedded implementation research approach to improve health systems’ performance and strengthen capacity for knowledge generation and use.
- Health Policy and Systems Research Capacities in Ethiopia and Ghana: Findings From a Self-Assessment
Government investment in strengthening health policy and systems research capacities is needed to enhance the generation of evidence for effective policy making. Researchers’ engagement in the policy-making process helps shape policy-relevant research and support policy-relevant decisions.
- Embedding Research on Implementation of Primary Health Care Systems Strengthening: A Commentary on Collaborative Experiences in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique
The African Health Initiative prioritized embedded implementation research using a multidisciplinary partnership model that empowered decision makers and embedded research and capacity building at multiple levels of health systems.
- Learning Health Systems to Bridge the Evidence-Policy-Practice Gap in Primary Health Care: Lessons From the African Health Initiative
The compilation of lessons in this supplement on the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s African Health Initiative’s work in the application of implementation research in primary health care in sub-Saharan Africa reflects the evolution of the discipline that is now increasingly recognized as integral to health systems strengthening.
- Using Health Systems and Policy Research to Achieve Universal Health Coverage in Ghana
Health system implementation research, combined with knowledge management processes, directly contributed to Community-based Health Planning and Services geographic coverage expansion. Research was less deliberately employed for guiding financial access expansion through the National Health Insurance Scheme.
- Improving Primary Care Quality Through Supportive Supervision and Mentoring: Lessons From the African Health Initiative in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique
Systematic approaches to positioning technical support, enhancing systems, and promoting sustainment are crucial to strengthening supportive supervision and mentoring in primary health care systems. The African Health Initiative projects in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique have lessons to share from such experiences that stakeholders can apply to similar efforts in other countries.
- The Use of Research for Health Systems Policy Development and Implementation in Mozambique: A Descriptive Study
There are still considerable gaps in the process of using research evidence for policy making in Mozambique. We recommend key actions to take to improve the research-to-policy pipeline.