Human Sciences Research Council, Population Health, Health Systems and Innovation, Cape Town, South Africa.
Faculty of Community and Health Science, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2018 Nov 1;7(11):977-981. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2018.73.
Providing universal health coverage (UHC) through better maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health (MNCAH) can benefit both parties through North-South research collaborations. This paper describes lessons learned from bringing together early career researchers, tutors, consultants and mentors from the United Kingdom, Kenya, and South Africa to work in multi-disciplinary teams in a capacity-building workshop in Johannesburg, co-ordinated by senior researchers from the three partner countries. We recruited early career researchers and research users from a range of sectors and institutions in the participating countries and offered networking sessions, plenary lectures, group activities and discussions. To encourage bonding and accommodate cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary partners, we asked participants to respond to questions relating to research priorities and interventions in order to allocate them into multidisciplinary and cross-country teams. A follow up meeting took place in London six months later. Over the five day initial workshop, discussions informed the development of four draft research proposals. Intellectual collaboration, friendship and respect were engendered to sustain future collaborations, and we were able to identify factors which might assist capacity-building funders and organizers in future. This was a modestly funded brief intervention, with a follow-up made possible through the careful stewardship of resources and volunteerism. Having low and middle-income countries in the driving seat was a major benefit but not without logistic and financial challenges. Lessons learned and follow-up are described along with recommendations for future funding of partnerships schemes.
通过改善孕产妇、新生儿、儿童和青少年健康（MNCAH）来实现全民健康覆盖（UHC），通过南北合作研究可以使双方受益。本文介绍了将来自英国、肯尼亚和南非的早期职业研究人员、导师、顾问和指导老师聚集在一起，在约翰内斯堡的一个能力建设研讨会上以多学科团队的形式开展工作的经验教训。我们从参与国的各个部门和机构招募了早期职业研究人员和研究用户，并提供了网络会议、全体会议演讲、小组活动和讨论。为了鼓励建立联系并适应跨文化和跨学科的合作伙伴，我们要求参与者回答与研究重点和干预措施相关的问题，以便将他们分配到多学科和跨国团队中。六个月后在伦敦举行了一次后续会议。在为期五天的初始研讨会上，讨论为制定四项研究提案草案提供了信息。通过智力合作、友谊和尊重，为未来的合作奠定了基础，我们能够确定未来可能有助于能力建设资助者和组织者的因素。这是一项资金有限的简短干预措施，通过谨慎管理资源和志愿服务得以进行后续工作。让中低收入国家担任主导角色是一个主要优势，但这并非没有后勤和财务方面的挑战。本文介绍了经验教训和后续工作，并提出了未来伙伴关系计划资金的建议。
