Original scientific paper
Setting Priorities in Global Child Health Research Investments: Addressing Values of Stakeholders
Lydia Kapiriri
; Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Canada
Mark Tomlinson
; Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
Jennifer Gibson
; Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Canada
Mickey Chopra
; Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Canada
Shams El Arifeen
; Centre for Healt and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Robert E. Black
; Department of International Health, Baltimore, USA
Igor Rudan
; Departmen of Public Health, University of Split Medical School
Abstract
Aim To identify main groups of stakeholders in the process of health
research priority setting and propose strategies for addressing their systems
of values.
Methods In three separate exercises that took place between March
and June 2006 we interviewed three different groups of stakeholders:
1) members of the global research priority setting network; 2) a diverse
group of national-level stakeholders from South Africa; and 3) participants
at the conference related to international child health held in
Washington, DC, USA. Each of the groups was administered different
version of the questionnaire in which they were asked to set weights to
criteria (and also minimum required thresholds, where applicable) that
were a priori defined as relevant to health research priority setting by
the consultants of the Child Health and Nutrition Research initiative
(CHNRI).
Results At the global level, the wide and diverse group of respondents
placed the greatest importance (weight) to the criterion of maximum
potential for disease burden reduction, while the most stringent
threshold was placed on the criterion of answerability in an ethical
way. Among the stakeholders’ representatives attending the international
conference, the criterion of deliverability, answerability, and
sustainability of health research results was proposed as the most important
one. At the national level in South Africa, the greatest weight
was placed on the criterion addressing the predicted impact on equity
of the proposed health research.
Conclusions Involving a large group of stakeholders when setting priorities
in health research investments is important because the criteria
of relevance to scientists and technical experts, whose knowledge and
technical expertise is usually central to the process, may not be appropriate
to specific contexts and in accordance with the views and values
of those who invest in health research, those who benefit from it, or wider society as a whole.
Keywords
Research Investments; Stakeholders
Hrčak ID:
20925
URI
Publication date:
15.10.2007.
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