Ethiopian Evidence Based Healthcare and Development Centre: a JBI Center of Excellence, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
Health, Behavior, and Society Department, Public Health Faculty, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2024 Jan 2;22(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12961-023-01091-6.
Decision-making about the design and implementation of health care policies should be supported by research evidence. This article reports on a qualitative study on the experiences of both research institutes and policymakers in Ethiopia in generating and using research evidence to inform health policy decision-making.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted from January through March 2020, with representatives of research institutes and with policymakers in Ethiopia. The data collected during the interviews were analyzed thematically.
Half of the institutions represented had engaged in health policy and systems research (HPSR). These institutes' capacities were limited by multiple factors, including unsupportive research environments; the limited number of researchers with extensive experience; high turnover among senior researchers; lack of staff motivation mechanisms; underdeveloped research culture; limited technical and analytical capacity among researchers; lack of core funding for HPSR; ineffective financial management; and, lack of connections with health policy platforms. Research institutes also lacked the capacity in strategic packaging of findings to influence policy decision-making, although some programs have recently improved in this area. Meanwhile, there lacked a culture of using evidence in policymaking settings. In general, we found that policymakers had poor attitudes towards the quality or value of the evidence, and had little capacity to interpret evidence and apply findings to policy options. As a result, much of the research produced by the institutes have only been relevant academically, with little impact on policy. However, respondents reported that the environment is slowly changing, and the recent creation of a Research Advisory Council at the Ministry of Health offers a promising model.
Despite some recent changes, in Ethiopia researchers and policymakers alike often tend to consider health policy and systems research (HPSR) to be not very valuable since the findings generated are rarely used for evidence-informed policy development. Research institutes and researchers need to strengthen their technical, analytical, and administrative capacities (through, among other efforts, seeking more funding for research, and better incentives to attract, retain and build skills among qualified researchers); they also need to improve their understanding of the evidence-to-policy cycle and how to engage effectively with policymakers.
医疗保健政策的设计和实施决策应基于研究证据。本文报告了一项定性研究，该研究关注埃塞俄比亚的研究机构和政策制定者在生成和使用研究证据以告知卫生政策决策方面的经验。
2020 年 1 月至 3 月期间，对埃塞俄比亚的研究机构代表和政策制定者进行了半结构化访谈。对访谈中收集的数据进行了主题分析。
一半的机构参与了卫生政策和系统研究（HPSR）。这些机构的能力受到多种因素的限制，包括支持性研究环境不足；具有丰富经验的研究人员数量有限；高级研究人员离职率高；缺乏工作人员激励机制；研究文化不发达；研究人员的技术和分析能力有限；HPSR 的核心资金不足；财务管理不善；以及与卫生政策平台缺乏联系。研究机构也缺乏将研究结果进行战略性包装以影响政策决策的能力，尽管最近在这方面的一些项目有所改进。同时，在决策制定环境中使用证据的文化也不足。总的来说，我们发现政策制定者对证据的质量或价值持消极态度，并且几乎没有能力解释证据并将研究结果应用于政策选择。因此，研究所产生的大部分研究仅具有学术相关性，对政策几乎没有影响。然而，受访者报告称，环境正在缓慢变化，卫生部最近成立的研究咨询委员会提供了一个有希望的模式。
尽管最近发生了一些变化，但在埃塞俄比亚，研究人员和政策制定者往往倾向于认为卫生政策和系统研究（HPSR）的价值不大，因为生成的研究结果很少用于循证政策制定。研究机构和研究人员需要加强其技术、分析和行政能力（除其他努力外，还包括寻求更多的研究资金，并为有资格的研究人员提供更好的激励措施以吸引、留住和培养技能）；他们还需要更好地了解证据到政策的周期以及如何与政策制定者进行有效互动。
