Forging Links for Health Research: Perspectives from the Council on Health Research for Development

As part of the lead up to the October 2000 International Conference on Health Research for Development in Bangkok, the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) called upon its associates around the world to reflect on achievements and setbacks in the 1990s. This book is the result of those reflections.

In Forging Links for Health Research, a team of international experts record the important lessons of the past decade and suggest what must be done in the research arena to ensure a healthy future for all. It follows up on the landmark publication Health Research: Essential Link to Equity in Development (Oxford University Press, 1990) and is unique in its combination of evocative human stories and expert insight from international health researchers.

Forging Links for Health Research will be of interest to academics, researchers, students, and policymakers in public health, epidemiology, health sciences, international health, development studies, and international affairs; professionals in donor organizations, development organizations, and NGOs worldwide; and concerned citizens, particularly health-care workers, interested in international affairs and Third World development.

The editors

Victor Neufeld is a physician, educator, and international consultant based in Hamilton, Canada, where he is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Epidemiology at McMaster University. Over a period of more than 25 years, he has held various academic leadership positions in the university, the last of which was Director, Centre for International Health. He has served as a consultant and adviser to many international agencies, institutions, and organizations in the area of capacity building for health system reform, with a special interest in leadership development.

Nancy Johnson is a health social scientist who consults on qualitative research design, data collection, and analysis as well as the development of health and social science-related manuscripts. Previous research projects span a broad range of areas including the design of culturally appropriate AIDS educational interventions in Zimbabwe; community-based maternal/child health programs for Latin American immigrants in Hamilton, Canada; patient-centred breast cancer treatment decision-making; and decisions to withdraw life support in intensive care settings. Ms Johnson is also coeditor of Nurtured by Knowledge (IDRC 1997).