Traditional Birth Attendants

Quote of the month: "It's like forbidding a hospital attendant from applying first aid to victims of a road traffic accident” (Joseph Ana, Nigeria, quoting Shima Gyoh, professor of surgery at Benue State University, Nigeria)

Community Health Workers feel unrecognised and undervalued by community leaders and health professionals. This was the central message from a major thematic discussion held on the HIFA forums and sponsored by The Lancet, Reachout Project/Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, World Vision International and USAID Assist Project.

During 2015 and 2016 the HIFA Project on Access to Health Research supported a series of thematic discussions on the HIFA forums on a wide range of questions.

The project working group has now reviewed the outputs of these discussions with a view to taking forward specific issues through advocacy and action.

The following seven issues are highlighted for your comments and suggestions on ways forward:

1. "Most research is wasted because it is never published"

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What are systematic reviews? Why are they important? What are their strengths and weaknesess? How can systematic reviews and local research be used more effectively to support evidence-informed policy and practice in low- and middle-income countries?