TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping the use of research to support strategies tackling maternal and child health inequities
T2 - Evidence from six countries in Africa and Latin America
AU - Vargas, Emily
AU - Becerril-Montekio, Victor
AU - Gonzalez-Block, Miguel Ángel
AU - Akweongo, Patricia
AU - Hazel, Cynthia N.A.
AU - Cuembelo, Maria de Fatima
AU - Limbani, Felix
AU - Bernardo, Wanderley
AU - Muñoz, Fernando
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Vargas et al.
PY - 2016/1/7
Y1 - 2016/1/7
N2 - Background: Striving to foster collaboration among countries suffering from maternal and child health (MCH) inequities, the MASCOT project mapped and analyzed the use of research in strategies tackling them in 11 low- and middle-income countries. This article aims to present the way in which research influenced MCH policies and programs in six of these countries - three in Africa and three in Latin America. Methods: Qualitative research using a thematic synthesis narrative process was used to identify and describe who is producing what kind of research, how research is funded, how inequities are approached by research and policies, the countries' research capacities, and the type of evidence base that MCH policies and programs use. Four tools were designed for these purposes: an online survey for researchers, a semi-structured interview with decision makers, and two content analysis guides: one for policy and programs documents and one for scientific articles. Results: Three modalities of research utilization were observed in the strategies tackling MCH inequities in the six included countries - instrumental, conceptual and symbolic. Instrumental utilization directly relates the formulation and contents of the strategies with research results, and is the least used within the analyzed policies and programs. Even though research is considered as an important input to support decision making and most of the analyzed countries count five or six relevant MCH research initiatives, in most cases, the actual impact of research is not clearly identifiable. Conclusions: While MCH research is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, the impact of its outcomes on policy formulation is low. We did not identify a direct relationship between the nature of the financial support organizations and the kind of evidence utilization within the policy process. There is still a visible gap between researchers and policymakers regarding their different intentions to link evidence and decision making processes.
AB - Background: Striving to foster collaboration among countries suffering from maternal and child health (MCH) inequities, the MASCOT project mapped and analyzed the use of research in strategies tackling them in 11 low- and middle-income countries. This article aims to present the way in which research influenced MCH policies and programs in six of these countries - three in Africa and three in Latin America. Methods: Qualitative research using a thematic synthesis narrative process was used to identify and describe who is producing what kind of research, how research is funded, how inequities are approached by research and policies, the countries' research capacities, and the type of evidence base that MCH policies and programs use. Four tools were designed for these purposes: an online survey for researchers, a semi-structured interview with decision makers, and two content analysis guides: one for policy and programs documents and one for scientific articles. Results: Three modalities of research utilization were observed in the strategies tackling MCH inequities in the six included countries - instrumental, conceptual and symbolic. Instrumental utilization directly relates the formulation and contents of the strategies with research results, and is the least used within the analyzed policies and programs. Even though research is considered as an important input to support decision making and most of the analyzed countries count five or six relevant MCH research initiatives, in most cases, the actual impact of research is not clearly identifiable. Conclusions: While MCH research is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, the impact of its outcomes on policy formulation is low. We did not identify a direct relationship between the nature of the financial support organizations and the kind of evidence utilization within the policy process. There is still a visible gap between researchers and policymakers regarding their different intentions to link evidence and decision making processes.
KW - Africa
KW - Evidence
KW - Health programs
KW - Inequities
KW - Latin America
KW - Maternal and child health
KW - Research utilization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84953239303&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12961-015-0072-1
DO - 10.1186/s12961-015-0072-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 26742486
AN - SCOPUS:84953239303
SN - 1478-4505
VL - 14
JO - Health Research Policy and Systems
JF - Health Research Policy and Systems
IS - 1
M1 - 1
ER -