Activist researcher Ravi Narayan, a member of the Foundation Council of the Global Forum, speaks of the necessity for all groups working towards people’s health, including researchers, to listen to each other. Hard evidence is essential for progress he says – especially evidience collected and analysed by researchers in least developed countries.
Monitoring equity and research policy
Just listen: Research and activism can walk hand-in-hand
Real Health News, 17 May 2006
Measuring inequality: Tools and an illustration
Williams RFG, Doessel DP: International Journal for Equity in Health 5: 5, 22 May 2006
This paper examines an aspect of the problem of measuring inequality in health services. The measures that are commonly applied can be misleading because such measures obscure the difficulty in obtaining a complete ranking of distributions. The nature of the social welfare function underlying these measures is important. The overall object is to demonstrate that varying implications for the welfare of society result from inequality measures.
The World Mortality Report 2005
United Nations, 2006
The World Mortality Report 2005 provides a broad overview of mortality changes in all countries of the world during the latter half of the 20th century. The main objective of this report is to compile and summarise available information about levels and trends of mortality and life expectancy for national populations; allowing a comparison of mortality data from different sources, and permitting an assessment of gaps in information, as well as insight on performance with respect to Millenium Development Goals.
Why do research findings fail to change health policy?
Aaserud M, Lewin S, Innvaer S: id21, 31 May 2006
Research on reproductive health in developing countries has produced a growing evidence base. But translating this evidence into appropriate health policy remains a slow process. What factors influence the use of evidence by clinicians and policymakers? And what enables or prevents them from putting research findings into practice?
Bridging the 'know-do' gap: knowledge translation in health meeting
WHO Knowledge Management and Sharing, WHO Research Policy and Cooperation
Bridging the "know-do" gap poses the greatest opportunity for
strengthening health systems and ultimately achieving equity in global
health. This report comes from a meeting on "Knowledge Translation for
Global Health" convened by the WHO.
Governments must move forward with Global R&D Framework at World Health Assembly
People\'s Health Movement, 18 May 2006
As health ministers meet in Geneva at the World Health Assembly (WHA) next week, the medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is calling on governments to overhaul the way medical research and development (R&D) is prioritised and financed, and support a resolution proposed by Kenya and Brazil for a "global framework on essential health R&D." Despite gathering increasing support from many governments, this resolution has faced consistent obstruction on the part of the WHO Secretariat.
Behind the global numbers: The real costs of research for health
Global Forum for Health Research
The Executive Director of the GFHR says: "One of the important aspects of our work is that we have been tracking global resources for health research. For example, we found that in 2001 the world spent nearly US$106 billion, with 44% of this total coming from the public sector, 48.3% from the private for-profit sector and 7.6% from private not-for-profit organizations like the Gates and Rockefeller foundations." This article sheds further light on the real picture.
From local to global: Action science in Nairobi
Global Forum for Health Research - Real Health News
Research bringing intimate knowledge of clients and their care in HIV/AIDS clinics, and of the bureacracy, politics and needs of national and international health government – is making Liverpool VCT and Care a scientific force to be reckoned with, Nduku Kilonzo explains. Kilonzo’s speciality is gaining evidence on the role of gender and rape in the AIDS pandemic – and even more powerfully, changing health policy and actions in response to her results. But how do she and Liverpool VCT do it? This interview demonstrates how her various strategies have allowed this public-private partnership to bear fruit.
Monitoring financial flows for health research
Global Forum for Health Research
As part of its contribution to closing the ‘10/90 gap’, the GFHR conducts studies of the flows of financial resources for health research and the extent to which these address the health needs of the poor and marginalized. This new volume of Monitoring Financial Flows for Health Research looks behind the global totals and examines several facets of the overall picture. The report highlights the revolution of a much broader and more holistic definition of health and the need for a wider and more multisectoral approach to understanding the determinants of health.
Contact: info@globalforumhealth.org
Scaling up health interventions in resource-poor countries: What role for research in stated-preference frameworks?
Health Research Policy and Systems 4 (4): Pokhrel S
Despite improved supply of health care services in low-income countries in the recent past, their uptake continues to be lower than anticipated. This has made it difficult to scale-up those interventions which are not only cost-effective from supply perspectives but that might have substantial impacts on improving the health status of these countries. Understanding demand-side barriers is therefore critically important. This commentary argues that more research on demand-side barriers needs to be carried out and that the stated-preference (SP) approach to such research might be helpful.