Abstract
BackgroundLao PDR is a low-income country with an urgent need for evidence-informed policymaking in the healthcare sector. During the last decade a number of Health Systems Research (HSR) projects have been conducted in order to meet this need. However, although knowledge about research is increasing among policymakers, the use of research in policymaking is still limited.MethodsThis article investigates the relationship between research and policymaking from the perspective of those participating in HSR projects. The study is based on 28 interviews, two group discussions and the responses from 56 questionnaires.ResultsThe interviewees and questionnaire respondents were aware of the barriers to getting research into policy and practice. But while some were optimistic, claiming that there had been a change of attitudes among policymakers in the last two years, others were more pessimistic and did not expect any real changes until years from now. The major barriers to feeding research results into policy and practice included an inability to influence the policy process and to get policymakers and practitioners interested in research results. Another barrier was the lack of continuous capacity development and high-quality research, both of which are related to funding and international support. Many of the interviewees and questionnaire respondents also pointed out that communication between those conducting research and policymakers must be improved.ConclusionThe results show that in the case of Lao PDR, research capacity development is at a crucial stage for implementing research into policy and practice. If research is going to make a consistent impact on policymaking in the Lao health care sector, the attitude towards research will need to be changed in order to get research prioritised, both among those conducting research, and among policymakers and practitioners. Our findings indicate that there is awareness about the barriers in this process.
Highlights
This study seeks to contribute to the current discussion about health research feeding into policymaking in a lowincome country setting
The interviews In the interview results, a clear distinction can be found between two different effects of the Health Systems Research (HSR) projects: capacity development as a result of participation in the projects and political action on the basis of research findings
The optimists claimed that there had been a change of attitudes among policymakers in the last two years because of the exposure to HSR, while the pessimists did not expect any real changes until years indicating the ambivalent role of research in the Lao context
Summary
This study seeks to contribute to the current discussion about health research feeding into policymaking in a lowincome country setting. It is a follow-up of a previous article about research and policymaking in Lao PDR focusing on decision-makers and the usefulness of research evidence in policy implementation. In 2004, the World Health Organisation (WHO) organised the Ministerial Summit on Health Research where health research was emphasised as a role in meeting the Millennium Development Goals [5] Despite these efforts to acknowledge the neglect of research in policymaking, since 1995 only a few reports have addressed this issue [1,2,6,7,8,9,10]
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