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Implementation research for maternal, newborn and child health
Author(s) -
Portela Anayda,
Qazi Shamim Ahmad,
Tran Nhan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14641
Subject(s) - medicine , child health , pediatrics , family medicine
BACKGROUND The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (MCA) to prepare a supplement to Acta Paediatrica to present results from selected implementation research studies that tested and documented the delivery of proven maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) interventions in different countries and contexts. This editorial provides background information on how these studies were selected by WHO and an overview of the different studies in the context of the thinking on implementation research at the time they were developed. A persistent challenge to achieving national and global goals for MNCH is the implementation and scale-up of policies, programmes and interventions that can save lives and improve health. Simply evaluating effectiveness of an intervention is not enough; there must also be an explicit focus on implementation that is systematic and robust. Implementation research seeks to understand implementation and scale-up processes and the role of contextual factors on success, measure impact and identify where adaption is needed. Such research can generate knowledge needed for policymakers and practitioners to accelerate work to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes (1–3). Increasingly, implementation research has gained prominence in the public health arena as a vital tool to advance and attain global health goals as organisations such as the WHO utilise it to achieve department and programme targets. In 2010, the Implementation Research Platform (IRP) was established as a platform to share and learn about implementation research experiences among the AHPSR, WHO/MCA, the Special Programme for Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) and the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). Today, the IRP comprises more than 10 departments and programmes within WHO, contributing to the advancement of the field through development of guidance and toolkits. The IRP today supports over 100 research studies addressing a range of health and disease areas.