Defor Selina, Kwamie Aku, Agyepong Irene Akua
Ghana Health Service, Research and Development Division, Accra, Ghana.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2017 Jul 12;15(Suppl 1):55. doi: 10.1186/s12961-017-0215-7.
The need for locally-driven, locally-generated evidence to guide health policy and systems decision-making and implementation in West Africa remains urgent. Thus, health policy and systems research (HPSR) is a field with great potential for addressing many of the sub-region's intransigent health challenges. This paper presents an analysis of trends and patterns of peer-reviewed HPSR publications across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to help understand trends and patterns of HPSR publication and the degree of involvement of West African researchers in HPSR evidence generation in the sub-region. Our goal was to use the findings to inform the development of a sub-regional strategy to strengthen HPSR and its use to inform development and improvement of health outcomes.
A scoping review was conducted over a 25-year period from January 1990 to September 2015. Literature searches were conducted in English and French using Google Scholar, PubMed Central and Cairn.info.
A total of 258 articles were retrieved. Of these, 246 were statistically analysed, with 54% having West African lead authors. Two thirds of the papers originated from three out of the 15 countries of the ECOWAS, specifically Nigeria (28.86%), Burkina Faso (21.54%) and Ghana (17.07%). Most authors were based in academic institutions and participation of authors from ministries of health, hospitals and non-governmental organisations was limited. English was the predominant language for publication even for papers originating from Francophone West African countries. There has been a progressive increase in publications over the studied period.
Despite progressive improvements over time, West Africa remains a weak sub-region in terms of peer-reviewed HPSR publications. Within the overall weakness, there is country-to-country variation. The fact that only a handful of countries accounted for nearly 70% of the total volume of publications in West Africa attests to the great disparities in individual, institutional and contextual capacities for HPSR evidence generation. Bridging the gap between lead institutions (universities and research centres) and the practice community (ministries, hospitals, non-governmental organisations) is indispensable for ensuring the practical use of HPSR evidence. There remains a major need for investments in HPSR capacity building in West Africa.
在西非，迫切需要由当地推动并产生的证据来指导卫生政策及系统的决策制定与实施。因此，卫生政策与系统研究（HPSR）是一个极具潜力的领域，有望解决该次区域诸多棘手的卫生挑战。本文对西非国家经济共同体（ECOWAS）范围内经过同行评审的HPSR出版物的趋势和模式进行了分析，以帮助了解HPSR出版物的趋势和模式，以及西非研究人员在该次区域HPSR证据生成中的参与程度。我们的目标是利用这些研究结果为制定一项次区域战略提供信息，以加强HPSR及其在为改善卫生成果提供信息方面的应用。
在1990年1月至2015年9月的25年期间进行了一项范围综述。使用谷歌学术、PubMed Central和Cairn.info以英语和法语进行文献检索。
共检索到258篇文章。其中，246篇进行了统计分析，54%的文章以西非作者为第一作者。三分之二的论文来自ECOWAS 15个国家中的3个国家，具体为尼日利亚（28.86%）、布基纳法索（21.54%）和加纳（17.07%）。大多数作者来自学术机构，来自卫生部、医院和非政府组织的作者参与度有限。即使是来自西非法语国家的论文，英语仍是主要的出版语言。在研究期间，出版物数量呈逐步上升趋势。
尽管随着时间的推移有了逐步改善，但就经过同行评审的HPSR出版物而言，西非仍是一个薄弱的次区域。在整体薄弱的情况下，各国之间存在差异。仅少数几个国家占了西非出版物总量近70%这一事实证明，在HPSR证据生成的个人、机构和背景能力方面存在巨大差距。弥合牵头机构（大学和研究中心）与实践社区（部委、医院、非政府组织）之间的差距对于确保HPSR证据的实际应用必不可少。西非在HPSR能力建设方面仍亟需投资。
