Research theme 3: health policy processes and the role of research
The overall goal of this theme is to understand health policy process and, in particular, the relationship between research and other sources of knowledge and the development of national policies, especially their impact on the poor.
Specifically this theme will seek:
to understand the factors influencing the formulation and implementation of health policies
to identify the kinds of evidence used by policy-makers
to explore the influence of research findings on policy processes by:
documenting previous experience of policy makers with health research
understanding the overall value placed on health research by policy makers
defining the context and conditions under which policy makers will demand health research
identifying the characteristics of health research that make it attractive to policy makers, especially the role of research demonstrating impact on the poor
exploring the existence and performance of institutional mechanisms that allow for interaction between research evidence and policy development at national level (with a special focus to understand if they incorporate approaches to studying impacts on the poor).
