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A pesar del reconocimiento mundial de la importancia de los recursos humanos para la salud (RHS) en el logro de objetivos de los sistemas de salud, muy poco se sabe sobre que intervenciones realmente funciona, para quién y en qué circunstancias, especialmente para los países de ingreso bajo y mediano. Varios eventos importantes e informes técnicos han pedido mayor financiación y capacidad para la investigación de los RHS en los últimos años y como resultado de ello se han establecido varias iniciativas. Sin embargo, el progreso ha sido lento. Las siguientes estrategias pueden ser las más valiosas para asegurar la relevancia de la evidencia generada para tomar decisiones y su contribución para fortalecer los sistemas de salud. La primera es promover los procesos nacionales para establecer prioridades para la investigación de RHS con participación activa de los decisores. La segunda es hacer esfuerzos conscientes para ampliar la investigación primaria para tratar las necesidades prioritarias y desarrollar mecanismos sostenibles para evaluar el impacto de las estrategias actuales o nuevas de RHS para alimentar al proceso de elaboración de políticas. La tercera es invertir en el desarrollo de revisiones sistemáticas para sintetizar la evidencia disponible y adaptar la metodología de las mismas a fin de hacerlas más adecuadas a los tipos de preguntas y la naturaleza de la investigación sobre temas de RHS. La cuarta y más importante es utilizar sistemáticamente un enfoque de sistemas para enmarcar y tratar preguntas de investigación. Mientras que un enfoque circunscrito puede ser más atractivo y simple, los sistemas de salud y los problemas que ellos enfrentan, no lo son. El disponer de mayor evidencia que tenga en consideración la complejidad de los sistemas de salud y especialmente los recursos humanos para la salud, generará un avance en el conocimiento en esta área y significará un gran paso en la calidad y utilidad de la evidencia generada.Despite global recognition of the importance of human resources for health (HRH) in achieving health system goals, very little is known about what works, for whom and under what circumstances, especially for low-income and middle-income countries. Several important events and reports have called for increased funding and capacity for HRH research in recent years and several initiatives have started as a result. Progress has been slow, however. The following strategies can be most valuable in ensuring the relevance of the generated evidence for decision making and its contribution to stronger health systems. The first is to promote national processes to set priorities for HRH research with active participation from decision makers. The second is to make conscious efforts to scale up primary research to address priority questions and to develop sustainable mechanisms to evaluate the impact of current or new HRH strategies to feed into the policy making process. The third is to invest in the development of systematic reviews to synthesize available evidence and in the adaptation of the underlying methods to make them more responsive to the type of questions and the nature of research involving HRH issues. The fourth and most important is to consistently use a systems approach in framing and addressing research questions. While a narrow approach may be more attractive and simple, health systems and the problems facing them are not. Increasing the body of evidence that takes into account the complexity of health systems, and particularly human resources for health, will advance knowledge in this area and will make big strides in the quality and usefulness of the generated evidence.

Despite global recognition of the importance of human resources for health (HRH) in achieving health system goals, very little is known about what works, for whom and under what circumstances, especially for low-income and middleincome countries. Several important events and reports have called for increased funding and capacity for HRH research in recent years and several initiatives have started as a result. Progress has been slow, however. The following strategies can be most valuable in ensuring the relevance of the generated evidence for decision making and its contribution to stronger health systems. The first is to promote national processes to set priorities for HRH research with active participation from decision makers. The second is to make conscious efforts to scale up primary research to address priority questions and to develop sustainable mechanisms to evaluate the impact of current or new HRH strategies to feed into the policy making process. The third is to invest in the development of systematic reviews to synthesize available evidence and in the adaptation of the underlying methods to make them more responsive to the type of questions and the nature of research involving HRH issues. The fourth and most important is to consistently use a systems approach in framing and addressing research questions. While a narrow approach may be more attractive and simple, health systems and the problems facing them are not. Increasing the body of evidence that takes into account the complexity of health systems, and particularly human resources for health, will advance knowledge in this area and will make big strides in the quality and usefulness of the generated evidence.