International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2011 Feb;15(2):144-54, i.
Operational research (OR) has become a hot topic at national meetings, international conferences and donor fora. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Operational Centre Brussels strongly promote and implement OR with colleagues in low- and middle-income countries. Here we describe how the two organisations define OR, and explain the guiding principles and methodology that underpin the strategy for developing and expanding OR in those countries. We articulate The Union's and MSF's approach to supporting OR, highlighting the main synergies and differences. Then, using the Malawi National Tuberculosis Control Programme as an example, we show how OR can be embedded within tuberculosis control activities, leading to changes in policy and practice at the national level. We discuss the difficult, yet vitally important, issue of capacity building, and share our vision of a new paradigm of product-related training and performance-based OR fellowships as two ways of developing the necessary skills at country level to ensure research is actually performed. Finally, we highlight the need to consider and incorporate into practice the ethical components of OR. This is a key moment to be involved in OR. We are confident that in partnership with interested stakeholders, including the World Health Organization, we can stimulate the implementation of quality, relevant OR as an integral part of health service delivery that in turn will lead to better health for people, particularly for those living in the poorer parts of the world.
运营研究（OR）已成为国家会议、国际会议和捐助方论坛上的热门话题。国际防痨和肺病联合会（联合会）和无国界医生组织布鲁塞尔运营中心与中低收入国家的同事一起大力推动和实施运营研究。在这里，我们将描述这两个组织如何定义 OR，并解释支持在这些国家发展和扩大 OR 的指导原则和方法。我们阐述了联合会和无国界医生组织支持 OR 的方法，强调了主要的协同作用和差异。然后，我们以马拉维国家结核病控制规划为例，展示了如何将 OR 嵌入结核病控制活动中，从而导致国家层面的政策和实践发生变化。我们讨论了能力建设这一困难但至关重要的问题，并分享了我们对与产品相关的培训和基于绩效的 OR 研究员这两种新范式的设想，这是在国家层面发展必要技能的两种途径，以确保实际进行研究。最后，我们强调需要考虑并将 OR 的伦理组成部分纳入实践。现在是参与 OR 的关键时刻。我们相信，与包括世界卫生组织在内的利益相关方合作，我们可以激发高质量、相关的 OR 的实施，将其作为卫生服务提供的一个组成部分，从而改善人们的健康，特别是生活在世界较贫困地区的人们的健康。
