Dear HIFA and CHIFA members, (with thanks to Jackeline Alger, lead moderator of HIFA-Spanish)
WHO has published a 'Roadmap for research on maternal and perinatal health in the context of epidemic threats', available here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240096318
Overview: 'This Roadmap represents a significant milestone in the global pursuit of enhanced maternal and perinatal health during epidemics and pandemics. It describes collaborative means to address the most pressing challenges that hinder the generation of high-quality evidence on the direct and indirect effects of epidemics on maternal and perinatal health. The Roadmap is relevant to multiple types of stakeholders working in the areas of maternal and perinatal health, global health security and surveillance, and medical products development.'
The roadmap proposes four strategic areas and Strategic area 4 is to 'Optimize the timely use of evidence in maternal and perinatal health in the context of epidemic threats'
This in turn has three 'priority directions':
4.1 Create a knowledge hub for sharing research findings and resources
- Map relevant research protocols and tools, research findings, and best practice documents
- Develop a user-friendly digital platform for stakeholders to access research resources
- Establish a virtual collaboration platform for ongoing discussions and information sharing (for example, a community of practice)
- Populate the knowledge hub with relevant research protocols and tools, research findings, research guidelines and best practice documents
4.2 Develop and implement comprehensive guidance on maternal and perinatal care
4.3 Develop an evidence-informed communication strategy to support the timely uptake of medical countermeasures
COMMENT (NPW): I hesitate to offer a critique here as I have not read the report in detail, but the above raises the following thoughts which are relevant to knowledge translation in any health area:
1. The report is titled 'maternal and perinatal health'. It mentions the child in the text, but it's curious that children are not included in the title? Perhaps this has to do with the professional experience of the authors?
2. Setting up a 'knowledge hub' is a common action point in plans to improve the uptake of evidence into policy and practice. But I understand that knowledge hubs can often flounder due to issues of 'funding, resources, and conflicting perspectives' [ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9858916/ ] Would anyone like to share views and experience on success (and challenges) in setting up, populating and maintaining a knowledge hub?
3. If a knowledge hup is created, what is the best way forward? Whom should it serve (the suggestion to 'populate the knowledge hub with relevant research protocols and tools, research findings, research guidelines and best practice documents' suggests an emphasis on researchers? Does it make sense to create a new knowledge hub, or would it be a better use of resources to strengthen the relevant sections in an existing knowledge hub?
4. The report suggests starting a community of practice (CoP), but the intersection between maternal/perinatal health and epidemics is quite specialised. In HIFA's experience a CoP needs at least 1000 members as a critical mass to sustain discussion. An alternative approach might be to focus on building a core technical working group that looks outwardly, including collaborating with larger established CoPs in maternal health, infectious diseases and global health.
It is a great plus that the report emphasises the importance of knowledge sharing. If they are not already doing so, I would recommend the authors liaise with Knowledge Management for Development, a community of practice that has a thriving forum and also publishes a jouranl of the same name. It is very unfortunate that the Communication Initiative recently announced closure due to lack of funding with the recent dismantling of USAID, as this would have been another valuable partner.
I look forward to reading any comments you may have.
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