Strengthening a National Health Research System
Building the National Health Research Council of Zambia
The Zambian research community has worked with the national Ministry of Health for over a decade to build a council that would promote, coordinate, regulate and manage health research at the national level. To that end, the Ministry’s National Health Research Advisory Committee (NHRAC) recently partnered with the Coalition to create an 18-month process for determining − through focused and facilitated dialogue and deliberation − the exact nature of this council. Carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, the NHRAC and the Coalition have created a participatory Technical Working Group (TWG) to weigh the many activities of the council.
TWG-3 Participants at Fringilla Lodge, Zambia - December 2009
These could include:
- overseeing the research agenda (including priority-setting mechanisms)
- developing and strengthening capacities for undertaking health research
- monitoring and coordinating national research activities (including improved communication, dissemination and partnering)
- strengthening capacities in knowledge management and translation
- governing research ethics boards
- convening policy dialogues.
Underway since April of 2009, it is expected that the NHRAC will have a complete Strategic Plan and long-term funding arrangements for the proposed council by September 2010.
The Coalition has recently completed a video documenting its work with the Ministry of Health in Zambia. This is an "evaluative video" - concerned principally with the emerging lessons from the process of creating a National Health Research Council, a national mechanism to coordinate and manage research in the country. For a two-page piece on the process, please download Towards a National Health Research Body [PDF 300 Kb].
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