Webinar III: What research is needed to advance accountability for health?
Prioritising health systems research for the SDG era
On 1 February 2018, over 100 people from around the world attended our third webinar in the series on 'Health Systems Governance Frameworks and Missing Links’.
This webinar was organised in collaboration with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. We invited policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to learn about the findings of a priority-setting exercise to rank the most pressing health policy and systems research questions on social accountability for the SDG-era and discuss how best to link research and policy-making in advancing health systems accountability.
Background to the priority-setting exercise
Global attention to the need for improved accountability has steadily increased over the past decades. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) now place an even greater focus on accountability by enshrining its value in SDG Goal 16 ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’.
The comprehensiveness and complexity of the SDGs create opportunities for innovative thinking and actions that recognize the interconnectedness between health and other social systems in order to strengthen health systems.
To provide effective guidance we must identify priority research questions based on policymakers’ priorities and challenges in building participatory and accountable institutions for health.
Moreover, we must determine the types of research and methods best suited to answering these questions and translating research into stronger health systems.
In 2016, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) commissioned a team of researchers to review the academic literature, interview policymakers, and work with stakeholders to identify and rank the most pressing health policy and systems research questions on social accountability for the SDG-era.
Presentations and discussion
Dena Javadi, Technical Officer, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization and Dr. Kerry Scott, Research associate, Johns Hopkins University provided background information and introduced a call for research by the AHPSR.
Sara Bennett, Director of the Doctor in Public Health Program, Johns Hopkins University facilitated an interactive dialogue with invited policymakers around the importance of the priority settings exercise and why these questions are relevant for policy.
Policymakers also provided useful insights into what kinds of research and methods are most useful to inform their daily practice.
We heard from: Dr. Francis Nwachukwu Ukwuije, Senior Health Economist and Head, Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria; Dr. Rajani Ved, Executive Director, National Health Systems Resource Center, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India; and Dr. Andrea Yearwood; Policy Consultant, Trinidad and Tobago.
We then held an open discussion for all participants. If you missed the webinar then you can still join in! Watch the presentation or the entire discussion here and leave comments at the end of this page.
Presentation
Full session
Webinar series resources
This is the third webinar in the ‘Webinar Series on Health Systems Governance Frameworks and Missing Links’.
Recordings of previous webinars from this webinar series can be accessed below:
1. Simplify in order to amplify: Making governance frameworks fit for practice
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