Dear HIFA colleagues,
In September 2024 I updated you on our SUPPORT-SYSTEMS project: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/hifa-projects-4-update-support-systems-...
I would like to share a further update from Principal Invesigator Unni Gopinathan via LinkedIn:
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Several members of the Supporting inclusive and accountable health systems (SUPPORT-SYSTEMS) research project convened in Accra last week.
Decisions about strengthening the financing, governance and organization of health systems need to rely on a wide range of evidence, especially to adapt global guidance to national & local contexts.
Focusing on vaccine introduction & roll-out and sub-national primary health care decisions, our project has explored the use of evidence from national & local civil society in informing these decisions, the value such evidence bring and the challenges to its use.
A key milestone in Accra was a stakeholder dialogue where Univ of Ghana, KEMRI Wellcome & Norwegian partners hosted participants from civil society actors, MoH, Ghana Health Service, WHO Country office and experts from Ghana's National Immunization Technical Advisory Board. Expertly chaired by my colleague Augustina Koduah, a vibrant discussion ensued, with civil society actors challenging govt officials to create more deliberate spaces for engagement & the use of their evidence. In response, govt officials called on civil society actors to improve collective engagement with health governance structures and pay attention to transparency, representativeness and reliability of the information they provided. A range of actions where suggested and a summary with proposed implications for practice will be shared on the project website soon.
There was also local media interest in the goals of this dialogue. Stakeholder dialogues like these play a critical role in motivating conversations that can translate research findings to positive health system impacts.
Key partners University of Ghana KEMRI - Wellcome Trust Norwegian Institute of Public Health Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
Justice Nonvignon Augustina Koduah Genevieve Aryeteey Daniel Nana Yaw Abankwah Doris Ottie-Boakye Simon Lewin Claire Glenton Elizabeth Peacocke Benjamin Tsofa Jacinta Nzinga Dennis Waithaka Nancy Kagwanja Ravi Ram Neil Pakenham-Walsh
Funded by The Research Council of Norway
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Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org