Epidemiology, Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Health Services Management, National Institute for Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2022 Mar 2;20(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s12961-021-00805-y.
In the present COVID-19 crisis, one of the greatest challenges for research funding at both the international and national level is selecting the best research topic to achieve efficiency and equity in health research and to address the knowledge gap urgently raised due to the event. Despite international recommendations, countries should consider their context-specific situation and define local research priorities. We aimed to exercise a priority-setting activity to identify the knowledge gaps and suggest research priorities in response to the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran.
First, we tried to identify the contextual knowledge gaps based on an online survey, performing key informant interviews (i.e. health professionals, policy-makers and managers) and media analysis. We also performed a literature review and considered international research priorities for COVID-19. Subsequently, we prepared a list of research questions and challenges to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in Iran using a systems approach. Then we mapped approved COVID-19 research projects in the country to research questions. Finally, we compared the identified research questions (not challenges) with the prioritized research from international organizations and then prioritized them for Iran.
We found risk factors and epidemiological dissemination patterns of the virus and its consequences in an epidemiology domain, implementation of clinical and hygiene in a clinical management domain, genetic studies for targeting prevention and treatment in a candidate treatment and vaccine research and development (R&D) knowledge domain, examination of the manifestations of ethics in society instead of ethics in research in an ethics domain, "care, access and health system" and "public health and participation in response to public health and clinical research" as two sub-domains of a social sciences domain, and finally, no new questions in either the virology, transmission, diagnosis or animal and environmental domain.
In the event of global health crises like COVID-19, prioritization of research questions can be done globally, but some of the research priorities are context-specific and may vary by regional needs. To better manage research resources, researchers must respond to the challenges faced in each country based on its political, economic, social and cultural characteristics, and to make evidence-informed decisions, global knowledge gaps must be customized in each country.
在当前的 COVID-19 危机中，国际和国家层面的研究资金面临的最大挑战之一是选择最佳的研究课题，以实现卫生研究的效率和公平，并紧急解决因该事件而产生的知识差距。尽管有国际建议，但各国应考虑其具体国情，并确定当地的研究重点。我们旨在开展一项重点制定活动，以确定伊朗 COVID-19 疫情中的知识差距，并提出研究重点。
首先，我们试图通过在线调查、关键知情人访谈（即卫生专业人员、政策制定者和管理者）和媒体分析来确定基于背景的知识差距。我们还进行了文献回顾，并考虑了 COVID-19 的国际研究重点。随后，我们使用系统方法制定了一系列研究问题和挑战，以应对伊朗的 COVID-19 危机。然后，我们将该国批准的 COVID-19 研究项目映射到研究问题上。最后，我们将确定的研究问题（而非挑战）与国际组织的优先事项进行了比较，然后为伊朗进行了优先排序。
我们在流行病学领域发现了病毒的风险因素和流行病学传播模式及其后果，在临床管理领域发现了临床和卫生保健的实施，在候选治疗和疫苗研发知识领域发现了针对预防和治疗的基因研究，在社会科学领域发现了伦理学领域的社会伦理表现，而不是研究伦理，最后，病毒学、传播、诊断或动物和环境领域没有新问题。
在 COVID-19 等全球卫生危机中，可以在全球范围内优先考虑研究问题，但某些研究重点是具体情况的，可能因区域需求而异。为了更好地管理研究资源，研究人员必须根据各国的政治、经济、社会和文化特点应对其面临的挑战，并做出循证决策，必须根据每个国家的情况定制全球知识差距。
