Center for Vaccine Development, Mali (CVD-Mali).
International Center for Research on Women, USA (ICRW).
Afr J Reprod Health. 2022 Dec;26(12s):110-118. doi: 10.29063/ajrh2022/v26i12s.12.
Strong local abortion research capacity is missing in many African countries. We report on the Strengthening Abortion Research Capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (STARS) program, an ongoing initiative to strengthen local capacity for abortion research in Mali, West Africa. We highlight the background, context, and methodology of the initiative as well as its achievements, challenges, and emerging lessons. Within a short time, STARS has initiated some key studies on abortion in Mali and created a much-needed platform for nurturing the country's next generation of abortion researchers, institutionalizing abortion research, increasing the quantity and quality of locally generated evidence on abortion, and facilitating evidence-informed abortion policy and programmatic action. The program's learning-by-doing approach has boosted the skills of individual researchers while also enhancing institution-based abortion and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) research expertise in Mali. Although STARS' capacity to deliver its mandate over time is evident, ultimate results will depend on the sustained commitment of funders to the program in the full realization that capacity building requires long-term investment and support for it to fully bear fruits.
在许多非洲国家，缺乏强有力的本地堕胎研究能力。我们报告了撒哈拉以南非洲加强堕胎研究能力（STARS）计划，这是一个正在进行的倡议，旨在加强西非马里的本地堕胎研究能力。我们强调了该倡议的背景、背景和方法，以及其成就、挑战和新出现的经验教训。在短时间内，STARS 在马里启动了一些关于堕胎的关键研究，并为培养该国下一代堕胎研究人员、使堕胎研究制度化、增加关于堕胎的本地产生的证据数量和质量以及促进循证堕胎政策和方案行动创造了急需的平台。该计划的边做边学方法不仅提高了个别研究人员的技能，还增强了马里基于机构的堕胎以及性健康和生殖健康及权利（SRHR）研究专业知识。尽管随着时间的推移，STARS 履行其任务的能力是显而易见的，但最终结果将取决于资助者对该计划的持续承诺，充分认识到能力建设需要长期投资和支持，才能充分取得成果。
