Operational research for strengthening noncommunicable disease prevention and control program

Abstract

Promoting research is one of the key objectives of the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The rising epidemic of NCDs mandates evidence-based interventions backed by good quality research. Operational Research (OR) has an important role to play in identifying, testing, and assessing the effectiveness and coverage of various NCD interventions in routine programmatic settings. Setting the OR priorities as per the local epidemiology of the NCDs and their risk factors is the first step. Direct program relevance of the research questions, the involvement of program managers in research, the use of routinely collected data using simple methodology, and effective dissemination of findings are needed for the OR to have any impact on policy and practice, thereby strengthening the program. This paper focuses on the role of OR in NCDs, presents few case studies demonstrating the impact of OR on policy and/or practice, and also discusses the prerequisites and enabling factors for conducting OR and ensuring translation of OR findings into policy and/or practice. This narrative review article is the output of a preconference scientific session titled “Operational research to strengthen NCD prevention and control program” at the World NCD Congress 2017 in Chandigarh, India.