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Background: In recent years there have been calls to strengthen health sciences research capacity in African countries. This capacity can contribute to improvements in health, social welfare and poverty reduction through domestic application of research findings; it is increasingly seen as critical to pandemic preparedness and response. Developing research infrastructure and performance may reduce national economies' reliance on primary commodity and agricultural production, as countries strive to develop knowledge-based economies to help drive macroeconomic growth. Yet efforts to date to understand health sciences research capacity are limited to output metrics of journal citations and publications, failing to reflect the complexity of the health sciences research landscape in many settings.Methods: We map and assess current capacity for health sciences research across all 54 countries of Africa by collecting a range of available data. This included structural indicators (research institutions and research funding), process indicators (clinical trial infrastructures, intellectual property rights and regulatory capacities) and output indicators (publications and citations).Results: While there are some countries which perform well across the range of indicators used, for most countries the results are varied-suggesting high relative performance in some indicators, but lower in others. Missing data for key measures of capacity or performance is also a key concern. Taken as a whole, existing data suggest a nuanced view of the current health sciences research landscape on the African continent.Conclusion: Mapping existing data may enable governments and international organizations to identify where gaps in health sciences research capacity lie, particularly in comparison to other countries in the region. It also highlights gaps where more data are needed. These data can help to inform investment priorities and future system needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevalence is rising fastest in lower income settings, and with more devastating outcomes compared to High Income Countries (HICs). While evidence is consistent on the growing health and economic consequences of NCDs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), specific efforts aimed at addressing NCD prevention and control remain less than optimum and country level progress of implementing evidence backed cost-effective NCD prevention approaches such as tobacco taxation and restrictions on marketing of unhealthy food and drinks is slow. Similarly, increasing interest to employ multi-sectoral approaches (MSA) in NCD prevention and policy is impeded by scarce knowledge on the mechanisms of MSA application in NCD prevention, their coordination, and potential successes in SSA. In recognition of the above gaps in NCD programming and interventions in Africa, the East Africa NCD alliance (EANCDA) in partnership with the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) organized a three-day NCDs conference in Nairobi. The conference entitled "First Africa Non-Communicable Disease Research Conference 2017: Sharing Evidence and Identifying Research Priorities" drew more than one hundred fifty participants and researchers from several institutions in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Belgium, USA and Canada. The sections that follow provide detailed overview of the conference, its objectives, a summary of the proceedings and recommendations on the African NCD research agenda to address NCD prevention efforts in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illness (iCCM) is a policy for providing treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia for children below 5 years at the community level, which is generating increasing evidence and support at the global level. As countries move to adopt iCCM, it becomes important to understand how this growing evidence base is viewed and used by national stakeholders. This article explores whether, how and why evidence influenced policy formulation for iCCM in Niger, Kenya and Mozambique, and uses Carol Weiss' models of research utilization to further explain the use of evidence in these contexts. A documentary review and in-depth stakeholder interviews were conducted as part of retrospective case studies in each study country. Findings indicate that all three countries used national monitoring data to identify the issue of children dying in the community prior to reaching health facilities, whereas international research evidence was used to identify policy options. Nevertheless, policymakers greatly valued local evidence and pilot projects proved critical in advancing iCCM. World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) functioned as knowledge brokers, bringing research evidence and experiences from other countries to the attention of local policymakers as well as sponsoring site visits and meetings. In terms of country-specific findings, Niger demonstrated both Interactive and Political models of research utilization by using iCCM to capitalize on the existing health infrastructure. Both Mozambique and Kenya exhibit Problem-Solving research utilization with different outcomes. Furthermore, the persistent quest for additional evidence suggests a Tactical use of research in Kenya. Results presented here indicate that while evidence from research studies and other contexts can be critical to policy development, local evidence is often needed to answer key policymaker questions. In the end, evidence may not be enough to overcome resistance if the policy is viewed as incompatible with national goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the public health in Africa, citing it as a process of solving health problems affecting communities. It cites on the problem of inequalities in health from social class, geographic isolation and gender which reflects widening differences in mortality rates within the class. The article also discusses that Africa suffer world order, unbalanced global trade and imposed reforms which increase poverty in the region.

Background: The rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa requires a multi-sectoral action (MSA) in their prevention and control. This study aimed to generate evidence on the extent of MSA application in NCD prevention policy development in five sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Malawi) focusing on policies around the major NCD risk factors.Methods: The broader study applied a multiple case study design to capture rich descriptions of policy contents, processes and actors as well as contextual factors related to the policies around the major NCD risk factors at single- and multi-country levels. Data were collected through document reviews and key informant interviews with decision-makers and implementers in various sectors. Further consultations were conducted with NCD experts on MSA application in NCD prevention policies in the region. For this paper, we report on how MSA was applied in the policy process.Results: The findings revealed some degree of application of MSA in NCD prevention policy development in these countries. However, the level of sector engagement varies across different NCD policies, from passive participation to active engagement, and by country. There was higher engagement of sectors in developing tobacco policies across the countries, followed by alcohol policies. Multi-sectoral action for tobacco and to some extent, alcohol, was enabled through established structures at national levels including inter-ministerial and parliamentary committees. More often coordination was enabled through expert or technical working groups driven by the health sectors. The main barriers to multi-sectoral action included lack of awareness by various sectors about their potential contribution, weak political will, coordination complexity and inadequate resources.Conclusion: MSA is possible in NCD prevention policy development in African countries. However, the findings illustrate various challenges in bringing sectors together to develop policies to address the increasing NCD burden in the region. Stronger coordination mechanisms with clear guidelines for sector engagement are required for effective MSA in NCD prevention. Such a mechanisms should include approaches for capacity building and resource generation to enable multi-sectoral action in NCD policy formulation, implementation and monitoring of outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is important to be able to evaluate and measure a country's performance in health research (HR), HR systems are complex and multifaceted in nature. As such, attempts at measurement can suffer several limitations which risk leading to inadequate indices or representations. In this study, we critically review common indicators of HR capacity and performance and explore their strengths and limitations. The paper is informed by review of data sources and documents, combined with interviews and peer-to-peer learning activities conducted with officials working in health and education ministries in a set of nine African countries. We find that many metrics that can assess HR performance have gaps in the conceptualisation or fail to address local contextual realities, which makes it a challenge to interpret them in relation to other theoretical constructs. Our study identified several concepts that are excluded from current definitions of indicators and systems of metrics for HR performance. These omissions may be particularly important for interpreting HR performance within the context and processes of HR in African countries, and thus challenging the relevance, utility, appropriateness and acceptability of universal measures of HR in the region. We discuss the challenges that scholars may find in conceptualising such a complex phenomenon-including the different and competing viewpoints of stakeholders, in setting objectives of HR measurement work, and in navigating the realities of empirical measurement where missing or partial data may necessitate that proxies or alternative indicators may be chosen. These findings are important to ensure that the global health community does not rely on over-simplistic evaluations of HR when analysing and planning for improvements in low-income and middle-income countries., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)