by Amalia Hasnida, Robert A Borst, Anneke M Johnson et al.
The Lancet Global Health – Published: 16 November 2016
3 pp. 268 kB
http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(16)30331-X.pdf
More than 25 years ago, the Commission on Health Research for Development published a report that represented a pivotal change in thinking about health research for development. The main argument of the report was that research contributed little to health in low-income and middle-income countries, because it matched poorly with needs in the global South, was dominated by researchers from the North, and had a narrow biomedical focus. From their investigation the authors conclude that shifting funding to nationally embedded programmes is essential for building a health systems research community beyond English-speaking countries and reducing the dependency on Northern scholars with limited language abilities beyond English. North-South collaboration can be helpful, as long as locals take the lead and choose their own partners, and cooperation is based on mutual respect.
