Sue Godt

The West African Health Organization (WAHO) supported an innovative regional initiative that contributes to building effective decision making, community and researcher partnerships to strengthen equitable health systems and influence local programmes and policies. Four projects were funded in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Senegal, supported by a Regional Advisory Committee of experts and local Steering Committees. Based on a framework drawn from WAHO objectives, we reviewed documents, conducted 56 project stakeholder interviews and undertook thematic analysis. A diverse range of stakeholders perceived that the projects were in line with national priorities, were well managed and were equitably implemented. The projects generated evidence that could increase access to and improve quality maternal health services. Sustainable partnerships were formed and stakeholder and research team capacity were strengthened. Our study provides insight into project implementation in West Africa, bearing in mind context-specific issues.

Objectives: To explore historical and contemporary factors and processes that influenced the emergence of WANEL and analyse how the formation process has influenced the network’s continued existence and sustainability and lesson for sub-regional health policy and systems research (HPSR) networking in Low –and –Middle –Income Countries (LMICs)Design: Qualitative explanatory case study which used process tracing to chart the formation and development of WANEL.Methods: Data was obtained through document reviews, semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and partici-pant observation. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis.Results: The emergence of WANEL was made possible by several factors, including support from a network of senior HPSR champions and institutions across West Africa; sustained funding from IDRC Canada, a reputable funder with a track record in supporting research capacity development in LMICs; learning and networking opportunities provided by CHEPSAA Eme...

Health problems are often driven by complex embedded intertwined social determinants of health. Individual interventions, isolated from system considerations, rarely result in sustainable solutions. As noted by Rutter et al., “Instead of asking whether an intervention works to fix a problem, researchers should aim to identify if and how it contributes to reshaping a system in favourable ways” Research and capacity strengthening to generate and implement solutions need to be appropriate to the context and focus on policies and systems as well as specific interventions. There is a need to strengthen national and sub-national capacities and systems for contextually relevant evidence generation rather than just focusing on identifying “proven effective interventions” for transfer to varying contexts in a travelling models approach. This supplement presents experiences and research findings from efforts by West and Central African researchers to address pressing health problems collabora...

Objectives: To explore and analyse factors that facilitate and inhibit the initiation and functioning of a national and transnational Community of Practice (CoP) for health policy and systems (HPS) and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) in West Africa and to identify lessons for CoP interventions in similar multilingual low and middle-income contexts.Design: A case study, with the case defined as processes, enablers and barriers to the initiation and functioning of a national and transnational CoP for HSP and RMNCAH in West Africa and drawing on a review and analysis of secondary data from the program, workshop, country team and project reports, and training sessions.Setting: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Participants: Professionals from two Anglophone (Ghana and Sierra Leone) and four Francophone (Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger e Senegal) ECOWAS countries.Interventions: Training and mentoring of multi-disciplinary...

Objectives: To examine how and why a South-South capacity development and networking program for leadership, research, practice and advocacy on maternal new-born, child and adolescent health and health policy and systems strengthening in West Africa and Cameroon worked and identify lessons for low- and middle-income countries.Design: Single qualitative case study drawing on data from document review, observations, key informant interviews and a deliberative workshop. Ethics approval for primary data collection was obtained from the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee (GHS-ERC 012/10/18).Setting: West Africa and CameroonParticipants: Researchers, policy and programme managers and frontline health workersInterventions: Networking and capacity developmentResults: The programme made good progress in implementing many but not all planned capacity development and networking activities. The opportunity to network with other organisations and individuals and across countries, disc...

Comprendre l'état de la recherche sur les politiques et les systèmes de santé en Afrique occidentale et les besoins de renforcement des capacités: portée des tendances et des caractéristiques des publications à comité de lecture de 1990 à 2015, Defor, S., Kwamie, A., Agyepong, I.

Jeter un pont entre le programme sur la santé des mères, des nouveau-nés et des enfants (SMNE) et les recherches sur les systèmes de santé: facteurs propices et défavorables liés aux systèmes de santé pour améliorer les incidences de la SMNE en Afrique de l'Ouest, Agyepong, I., Kwamie, A., Frimpong, E., Defor, S., Ibrahim, A., Aryeetey, G., Lokossou, V., Sombie, I.

Promouvoir la recherche pour améliorer la santé des mères, des nouveau-nés, des nourrissons et des adolescents en Afrique de l'Ouest: le rôle de l'Organisation ouest-africaine de la santé, Sombie, I., Bouwayé, A., Mongbo, Y., Keita, N., Lokossou, V., Johnson, E., Assogba, L., Crespin, X.

Amélioration des processus d'élaboration de politiques sur la santé des mères et des enfants au Nigéria: une évaluation des besoins des décideurs, des obstacles et des éléments facilitateurs de l'élaboration de politiques fondées sur des données probantes, Uneke, C., Sombie, I., Keita, N., Lokossou, V., Johnson, E., Ongolo-Zogo, P.

L'expérience ouest-africaine de constitution de comités de pilotage pour améliorer la collaboration entre chercheurs et décideurs et accroître l'utilisation des résultats de la recherche en santé, Keita, N., Lokossou, V., Berthe, A., Sombie, I., Johnson, E., Busia, K.

The actors influencing the commercial determinants of health (CDOH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have different interests and lenses around the costs and benefits of market influences in health. We analysed the views and priorities on CDOH in the discourse of global and regional agencies, SSA governments, private investors and companies, civil society and academia through a desk review of online publications post-2010, validated by purposively selected key informant interviews.The most polarised views were between civil society and academia on one hand, focused more on harms, and private business/investors on the other, almost exclusively focused on benefits. Others had mixed messaging, encouraging partnerships with commercial actors for health benefits and also voicing cautions over negative health impacts. Views also differed between transnational and domestic business and investors.Three areas of discourse stood out, demonstrating also tensions between commercial and public health...