Scaling up research and learning for health systems: now is the time
Report of a High Level Task Force, presented and endorsed at the Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health 2008, Bamako, Mali
The importance of health systems in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been increasingly recognized in recent years. In many countries, the problems of health systems are so serious that they create barriers to scaling up access to health care.
It has also been realized that greater investments in health systems research may yield rich health dividends for resource-constrained countries. Health systems research has been described as “the brains of the health system” and it is argued that small investments in research can inform policy and focus implementation in ways that drive success, eliminate health systems failures and, most importantly, make best use of scarce resources in low-income countries. For this reason the Director-General of WHO convened a High Level Consultation and Task Force on Scaling up Research and Learning for Health Systems. This report summarizes the main findings and recommendations of this Task Force, which were presented to the Bamako Ministerial Forum on Research for Health in November 2008 and endorsed in The Bamako call to action on research for health.