Organised on February 8, 2006, this consultation was aimed to facilitate a discussion on linking evidence, action and equity in public health research. High quality public health research in India is grossly inadequate and requires strategic planning, investment and resource support if there is to be a positive change in the production of such research in the country and by its application, the promotion of healthier lives for its population. While low quality health service interventions persist on a significant scale, public health research output in the country is minimal in contrast and unrepresentative of some of the major contributors to the national burden of disease. The prevailing situation is not so much a result of an overall lack in the production of health research, but rather a function of the disproportionate prioritisation in funds and extremely imbalanced research capacity, access, and ownership between the developed and developing worlds. This has been powerfully captured by what the Global Forum for Health Research has popularised as the “10/90 gap”: the fact that of the over $70 billion spent worldwide on health research each year, only about 10 percent is invested in research into 90 percent of the world’s health problems.
The consultation, with participation from various national and international researchers and academics, focused on priority-setting in public health research to maintain a balance between biomedical, socioeconomic and health systems research; the relationship between field sites, analysis and application, especially in case of action research; capacity-building of local civil society and government institutions in the area of public health research; and research-based policy advocacy in translating research findings into policy and practice.
The consultation pointed to the fact that public health research is important in understanding and addressing highly complex and multifactorial problems such as low birth weight and the social, economic and environmental determinants of maternal and infant undernutrition. As is the case with public health interventions, public health research is increasingly required to be multi-faceted, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral.
For
more details on the Consultation on Public Health Research
in India, see |
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Consultation on Public Health Research – List of Participants |
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