Dear Members,
You are being sent the following email because of your involvement in health policy and systems research. The Teaching and Learning Health Policy and Systems Research Thematic Working Group of Health Systems Global in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research is conducting a mapping study with the goal of identifying current training programmes with a focus on health policy and systems research relevant to low- and middle-income countries. We aim to capture the diversity of these courses in terms of content and modalities to suggest opportunities for expansion and for further development of training around health policy and systems research.
As an emerging area of research, health policy and systems research asks questions that relate to real-world situations and issues that focus on health services and promoting health. It supports applied research that explicitly seeks to influence policy and has potential to lead to health system development. Health policy and systems research is seen as particularly well-suited to answer why and how a certain combination of structures, policies, or interventions may have shaped outcomes. It can draw on one or more disciplines and methods to answer these questions.
We would appreciate it if you could answer some questions about health policy and systems research courses in which you are involved. The survey first asks a few questions about your institution, and then moves to questions about specific courses. We anticipate it will take 15–20 minutes to complete:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X7NRH53 Please aim to complete this survey on or before August 15th.
Your contribution to this survey will be vital to our collective efforts in supporting health policy and systems research, and in influencing institutions’ strategies to continue to support this field. The findings from this study will be discussed during the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in South Africa, September 30–October 3 2014, and will be disseminated through the Thematic Working Group and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.
We count on your participation to make the results of this survey useful and credible. Please forward this email on to any colleagues whom you feel this survey might be applicable to.
Many thanks,
The Teaching and Learning Health Policy and Systems Research Thematic Working Group of Health Systems Global