Task shifting in maternal and child health care: An evidence brief for Uganda
There is a shortage and maldistribution of medically trained health professionals to deliver cost-effective maternal and child health (MCH) services. Hence, cost-effective MCH services are not available to over half the population of Uganda and progress toward the Millennium Development Goals for MCH is slow. Optimizing the roles of less specialized health workers (“task shifting”) […]
Embedding rapid reviews in health policy and systems decision-making: Impacts and lessons learned from four low- and middle-income countries
Demand for rapid evidence-based syntheses to inform health policy and systems decision-making has increased worldwide, including in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To promote use of rapid syntheses in LMICs, the WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) created the Embedding Rapid Reviews in Health Systems Decision-Making (ERA) Initiative. Following a call for […]
Feasibility of a rapid response mechanism to meet policymakers’ urgent needs for research evidence about health systems in a low income country: a case study
Despite the recognition of the importance of evidence-informed health policy and practice, there are still barriers to translating research findings into policy and practice. The present study aimed to establish the feasibility of a rapid response mechanism, a knowledge translation strategy designed to meet policymakers’ urgent needs for evidence about health systems in a low […]
Evaluation evidence for public procurement policymaking in Uganda
This policy brief discusses findings from a case study conducted to illustrate how evidence from an evaluation informed decision- and policymaking of a major reform, the amendment of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act in Uganda. The evaluation was managed by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and the Public Procurement and […]
Pre-diagnostic drop out of presumptive TB patients and its associated factors at Bugembe Health Centre IV in Jinja, Uganda
Drop out of presumptive TB individuals before making a final diagnosis poses a danger to the individual and their community. We aimed to determine the proportion of these presumptive TB drop outs and their associated factors in Bugembe Health Centre, Jinja, Uganda. Read More: Pre-diagnostic drop out of presumptive TB patients and its associated factors […]
Rapidly responding to policy queries with evidence: Learning from Rapid Response Services in Uganda
The Rapid Response Service (RRS) is a knowledge translation service in Uganda that responds to a decision maker’s needs for evidence with synthesised relevant evidence, contextualised and summarised in an accessible package. The RRS was set up in 2010 at the Regional East African Health Policy Initiative, Uganda node, at Makerere University, and has supported […]
Paper 1: Demand-driven rapid reviews for health policy and systems decision-making: lessons from Lebanon, Ethiopia, and South Africa on researchers and policymakers’ experiences
Rapid reviews have emerged as an approach to provide contextualized evidence in a timely and efficient manner. Three rapid review centers were established in Ethiopia, Lebanon, and South Africa through the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, to stimulate demand, engage policymakers, and produce rapid reviews to support health policy and […]
Embedding rapid reviews in health policy and systems decision-making: Impacts and lessons learned from four low- and middle-income countries
Demand for rapid evidence-based syntheses to inform health policy and systems decision-making has increased worldwide, including in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To promote use of rapid syntheses in LMICs, the WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) created the Embedding Rapid Reviews in Health Systems Decision-Making (ERA) Initiative. Following a call for […]
Policymaker experiences with rapid response briefs to address health-system and technology questions in Uganda
Health service and systems researchers have developed knowledge translation strategies to facilitate the use of reliable evidence for policy, including rapid response briefs as timely and responsive tools supporting decision making. However, little is known about users’ experience with these newer formats for presenting evidence. We sought to explore Ugandan policymakers’ experience with rapid response […]
Beyond the metrics of health research performance in African countries
While it is important to be able to evaluate and measure a country’s performance in health research (HR), HR systems are complex and multifaceted in nature. As such, attempts at measurement can suffer several limitations which risk leading to inadequate indices or representations. In this study, we critically review common indicators of HR capacity and […]
