McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, at the University Health Network and University of Toronto, MaRS Centre, South Tower, Suite 406, 101 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1L7, Canada.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2010 Dec 13;10 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S2. doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-10-S1-S2.
Science, technology and innovation have long played a role in Ghana's vision for development, including in improving its health outcomes. However, so far little research has been conducted on Ghana's capacity for health innovation to address local diseases. This research aims to fill that gap, mapping out the key actors involved, highlighting examples of indigenous innovation, setting out the challenges ahead and outlining recommendations for strengthening Ghana's health innovation system.
Case study research methodology was used. Data were collected through reviews of academic literature and policy documents and through open-ended, face-to-face interviews with 48 people from across the science-based health innovation system. Data was collected over three visits to Ghana from February 2007 to August 2008, and stakeholders engaged subsequently.
Ghana has strengths which could underpin science-based health innovation in the future, including health and biosciences research institutions with strong foreign linkages and donor support; a relatively strong regulatory system which is building capacity in other West African countries; the beginnings of new funding forms such as venture capital; and the return of professionals from the diaspora, bringing expertise and contacts. Some health products and services are already being developed in Ghana by individual entrepreneurs, which are innovative in the sense of being new to the country and, in some cases, the continent. They include essential medicines, raw pharmaceutical materials, new formulations for pediatric use and plant medicines at various stages of development.
While Ghana has many institutions concerned with health research and its commercialization, their ability to work together to address clear health goals is low. If Ghana is to capitalize on its assets, including political and macroeconomic stability which underpin investment in health enterprises, it needs to improve the health innovation environment through increasing support for its small firms; coordinating policies; and beginning a dialogue with donors on how health research can create locally-owned knowledge and be more demand-driven. Mobilizing stakeholders around health product development areas, such as traditional medicines and diagnostics, would help to create trust between groups and build a stronger health innovation system.
科学、技术和创新在加纳的发展愿景中一直发挥着重要作用，包括改善其健康成果。然而，迄今为止，几乎没有研究涉及加纳解决当地疾病的卫生创新能力。本研究旨在填补这一空白，描绘涉及的主要行为者，突出本土创新的例子，阐述面临的挑战，并概述加强加纳卫生创新系统的建议。
采用案例研究方法。通过对学术文献和政策文件的审查以及对来自整个基于科学的卫生创新系统的 48 人的开放式、面对面访谈收集数据。数据于 2007 年 2 月至 2008 年 8 月三次访问加纳期间收集，并随后与利益攸关方进行了接触。
加纳具有未来支撑基于科学的卫生创新的优势，包括具有强大国际联系和捐助者支持的卫生和生物科学研究机构；一个相对强大的监管系统，正在为其他西非国家提供能力建设；新的融资形式，如风险资本的出现；以及侨民专业人士的回归，带来了专业知识和联系。一些卫生产品和服务已经由个体企业家在加纳开发，这些产品和服务在国家和在某些情况下在非洲大陆都是创新的。其中包括基本药物、原料药、儿科新配方和处于不同开发阶段的植物药物。
尽管加纳有许多机构关注卫生研究及其商业化，但它们共同努力实现明确的卫生目标的能力较低。如果加纳要利用其资产，包括支撑对卫生企业投资的政治和宏观经济稳定，它需要通过增加对其小企业的支持、协调政策以及开始与捐助者对话，了解卫生研究如何创造本地拥有的知识并更加以需求为导向，来改善卫生创新环境。围绕传统药物和诊断等卫生产品开发领域动员利益攸关方，有助于在群体之间建立信任，建立更强大的卫生创新系统。
