Publication

Abstract :

We represent ten groups of citizens and researchers from low- and middle-income countries who were recipients of International Health Research Awards (IHRA) presented at the Bangkok Conference on International Health Research for Development, 2000. The IHRA, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and administered by the World Health Organization, recognized the need for us to find effective ways of solving our countries' health problems and acknowledged the special environmental constraints we face in conducting research and exploiting the results. We used this funding to explore alternative ways for harnessing largely untapped resources in our countries to generate and apply knowledge to improve people's health and address inequalities. In the Bangkok Declaration, we joined many others to express our commitment to research as a vital force for health of all of our people.

Six of our ten projects explored, for particular themes or health topics, ways of extending the benefits of research to special groups or populations. Four more proposed specific approaches to consolidate national research policy and systems for allocating public research funds and managing research.

From our collective reflection about what we have learned, we note ways in which our experiences represent change, particularly expansion of the traditional boundaries of research: –broadening the research agenda by adding new topics, more voices and more perspectives than has been the norm in our settings –expanding capacity to design and conduct research by preparing new groups of researchers to pose questions, design and carry out studies, and by engaging more partners and disciplines in addressing national priorities –extending dissemination of research results, especially by using websites and mass media to reach decision makers and broader segments of the public –encouraging uptake of research for policy and practice. We want research to improve the health of our societies' most disadvantaged groups and to engage them in the process. Our work benefited immeasurably from networks and other forms of collaboration that our grants helped to support—and supported to an extent that was unusual compared to other forms of research funding. We linked our national and regional collaborations to global efforts, but endeavored to do so without being driven or preempted by the latter.

We are optimistic about the value of our experiences, but remain acutely aware of the unfinished agenda—an agenda that we incorporate into A CHALLENGE and A CALL for future action. We challenge ourselves, and others, to evaluate the effectiveness of our approaches to research for improving health systems and population health. We call on policy makers to adopt an evidence-based approach and to ensure that health systems are equipped to use rigorous research methods to embrace and analyze information from all participants. We close by asking donors and other international agencies for more flexible support so that we can benefit from global collaboration while maintaining our own priorities and building national and regional infrastructures to implement and evaluate new ways of doing research.