HPSR Knowledge Platform
Health Policy & Systems Research (HPSR), is an emerging global field with its own evolving standards for creating, evaluating, and utilizing knowledge, and distinguished by a particular orientation towards influencing policy and wider action to strengthen health systems. It is widely recognized as a critical element of the action needed to achieve the health-focused Millennium Development Goals, strengthen primary health care, and advance towards Universal Health Coverage. The Alliance for Health Systems and Policy Research (ASHPR) at WHO has identified nodal institutes in several countries, housed in academic/research institutions which are critically engaged in Implementation Research (IR) and Health Policy & Systems Research (HPSR).A Nodal Institute serves as a resource for 7-10 academic/research institutions and decision-making bodies in its respective territory. The functions of the Nodal Institute include developing training programs for researchers, carrying out biannual mapping of health systems research and practice, collaborating with other IRP partners and initiatives, supporting scale up of effective interventions and promoting IR & HPSR..
India has a growing community of Health Policy & Systems Researchers with varied disciplinary antecedents in the social sciences and public health. Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), is designated as the Nodal Institute for Health Policy and Systems Research for India by the AHPSR. As the Nodal Institute of the Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research in India, PHFI has the mandate to support HPSR community and capacity development, extend collaborations with existing HPSR institutions and researchers and to facilitate the use of HPSR evidence by health system decision-makers in the country. PHFI, in partnership with premier HPSR organizations in India and inputs from other global leaders in the field, has contributed significantly to this mandate. So far the Nodal Institute has mapped national capacity for HPSR in India, held a series of interactions between researchers and policy makers, and initiated some critical dialogues with the health ministry towards realizing an institutionalized support environment for HPSR in India. It has convened as well as supported presence of Indian HPSR researchers in Global Health Systems Research Symposiums. It has also successfully launched a nationwide HPSR capacity building initiative “KEYSTONE” involving lead researchers and institutions involved in HPSR- 20 researchers identified through a rigorous selection process got trained under this initiative, by a group of faculty pooled from renowned HPSR institutions. It has facilitated involvement of several internationally known health systems and policy researchers and research initiatives for this process as well.
One of the mandates of the Nodal Institute project was to strengthen the existing networks and initiatives engaged in health systems research and dissemination of health systems knowledge. In this regard PHFI extended its support to Health Systems Research India Initiative (HSRII), for further strengthening its activities and initiatives. HSRII is one of the leading knowledge exchange platforms aimed at facilitating knowledge dissemination of health systems research as well as implementation research in India. Objective of this initiative is strengthening health systems through knowledge exchange and through implementing health systems initiatives in India. During the Third Health Systems Global Symposium held at Cape Town in 2014, HSRII received the first “Health Systems Global Social Media Award” for the best use of social media for informing, advocating and engaging for health systems. With the support of the Nodal Institute project, HSRII knowledge network is now being migrated into the current web based platform. The website based Knowledge Exchange Platform includes new initiatives such as (1) HPSR Blog, (2) HPSR Article-Watch, (3) HPSR News-Watch, (4) HPSR Event-Watch and (5) HPSR Newsletter; all these will facilitate optimum dissemination of health systems knowledge and strengthen the HPSR community interactions in the country.
In addition to its primary mandate of strengthening HPSR knowledge dissemination under this project, the HSRII has also provided data collection interface and technical assistance to the Nodal Institute team for conducting and managing the first National Survey of organizations engaged in HPSR – as a first survey of its kind in the country, this helped in identifying various issues and concerns related to HPSR capacities in the country.
We will be happy to have your valuable feedbacks on the newly built up web interface and its utility. Our sincere thanks to the AHPSR Nodal Institute team at PHFI, for their support to make this happen.
Latest Updates
Article Watch, Event Watch, Blogs etcWorld Health Day 2014: Preventing vector-borne diseases
World Health Day 2014 brought to focus the increasing risk of vector borne diseases all around the world. More than one billion people get infected every year and more than a million die due to vector borne diseases. Though many scientific advances have been made to control vectors and to prevent insect bites, a lot still remains to be done. With the slogan, “Small bite, big threat”, the World Health Organization calls out for a strong political commitment and improved vector control tools to combat vector borne diseases.
Perceptions of State Government stakeholders & researchers regarding public health research priorities in India: An exploratory survey
Public health research has several stakeholders that should be involved in identifying public health research agenda. A survey was conducted prior to a national consultation organized by the Department of Health Research with the objective to identify the key public health research priorities as perceived by the State health officials and public health researchers. A cross-sectional survey was done for the State health officials involved in public health programmes and public health researchers in various States of India.
Early Hospital Mortality among Adult Trauma Patients Significantly Declined between 1998-2011: Three Single-Centre Cohorts from Mumbai, India
Trauma contributes to a major share of the deaths occurring worldwide. While systematic maintenance of trauma registers in the high income countries have enabled innovative research, research in low and middle income countries are lacking. This study uses the International Classification of Diseases-derived Injury Severity Score (ICISS) and risk adjustment to find a reduction in early hospital mortality among patients with major trauma between 1998 and 2011.
Economic Analysis of Delivering Primary Health Care Services through Community Health Workers
The study undertakes an economic costing of health services delivered by CHWs, from a health system perspective, by collecting data on resources spent in 50 randomly selected sub-centres selected from 4 districts. It assesses overall annual and unit cost of delivering package of services and specific services at sub-centre level by CHWs and found the Government of India’s policy of introducing a second auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) at the sub-centre compared to scenario of single ANM sub-centre to be very cost-effective.
Cost and Efficiency Evaluation of Referral Transport Model
This study, conducted to analyze the cost and efficiency of a publicly financed and managed referral transport service model in three districts of Haryana State found that the referral transport services were operating at an efficient level. The efficiency could be increased by increasing the demand for referral transport among the target population.
Health systems performance assessment in low-income countries: learning from international experiences
Health systems performance assessment in low-income countries: learning from international experiences Christine Kirunga Tashobya et al Globalization and Health 2014 Background The study aimed at developing a set of attributes for a 'good' health system performance...
Dominance of Sterilization and Alternative Choices of Contraception in India: An Appraisal of the Socioeconomic Impact
This study uses data drawn from the 2005-06 NFHS on a sample of women who reported using a method of contraception in the five years preceding the survey to estimate the impact of socioeconomic factors on the choice of contraception. Religious affiliation, women’s education and occupation were all found to have some impact on the choice of contraception. However, the most important factor associated with the continued use of permanent birth control methods over more modern ones was found to the socioeconomic status of the women.
The Effect of Surveillance and Appreciative Inquiry on Puerperal Infections: A Longitudinal Cohort Study in India
The Effect of Surveillance and Appreciative Inquiry on Puerperal Infections: A Longitudinal Cohort Study in India Julia Hussein et al Plos One, 2013 Abstract Objective To evaluate the effects of an intervention comprising surveillance and an organisational change...
Delays in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in India: a systematic review
A systematic review looking into delays in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis patients found three types of delays, namely patient delay, diagnostic delay and treatment delay. The study provides areas which require particular attention and where newer strategies should be targeted in order to improve TB control services in the country,
Morbidity Patterns and Health Care Seeking Behavior among Older Widows in India
This study conducted using data from the latest 60th round of National Sample Survey (NSS), 2004 found that the overall morbidity prevalence was 13% greater among older widows compared to older widowers. The likelihood of seeking health care services for reported morbidities too was substantially lower among older widows. The findings of this study are important to support policy makers and health care providers in identifying individuals ‘at risk’ and could be integrated into the current programs of social, economic and health security for the older persons.