Moving Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Evidence into Policy in East Africa
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
This project brings together and supports the uptake of maternal and child health research evidence into policies and practices in East Africa.Read more
This project brings together and supports the uptake of maternal and child health research evidence into policies and practices in East Africa. A part of the Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa program, the project's impact will be felt at the national and regional levels in East Africa, specifically in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and South Sudan.
Death, illness, disability continue
While health systems research has informed improvements in maternal, newborn, and child health globally, there are critical knowledge and implementation gaps in East Africa. Preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths, illnesses, and disabilities continue to burden countries in the region.
International effort, local results
There is a strong commitment from African governments, the international community, and Canada to improve maternal, newborn, and child health. The consortium established to address the challenge in East Africa includes:
-Africa Population Health Research Center (lead)
-East, Central, and Southern African Health Community
-Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office
Together, they will work with implementation research teams (IRTs) to provide evidence for regional and national decision-makers. Their work will complement the IRTs' efforts to integrate the evidence they generate into policies and practices.
The consortium will foster research uptake in policies and practices by building decision-makers' understanding and promoting further collaboration with researchers.
Program addresses health systems gaps
Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa is a CA$36 million, seven-year research program that seeks to assist countries in resolving pressing health systems challenges to improve maternal, newborn, and child health. It is designed to support
-two independent policy organizations (consortia)
-approximately 20 implementation research teams (IRTs)
The program is a collaboration between Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the International Development Research Centre.
Research outputs
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The report provides an overview of the East Africa Health Policy and Research Organization (EA-HPRO), which works with African and Canadian research teams in six sub-Saharan countries to improve maternal, newborn and child health outcomes. EA-HPRO’s role is to make evidence more robust, to support transfer of research into policy and practice, and to facilitate linkages with maternal, newborn and child health networks nationally and regionally. The organization works with researchers, first by identifying skills gaps, followed by workshops on specific topics, such as improvement of scientific writing skills. Research transfer and dissemination inform and support national policy engagement.
