Episode 79
Strengthening Research Capacity for Global Health Equity
Welcome to our new mini-series on research capacity strengthening, produced in partnership with the Centre for Capacity Research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In this first episode, we explore the design of a Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) component within an implementation research project, and why it is crucial for sustainable, patient-centred healthcare. Our conversation draws insights from those actively embedding RCS into their work, demonstrating how improving research skills and systems drives real impact in global health.
In this episode:
Dr. Justin Pulford - Reader at the Centre for Capacity Research, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Justin Pulford is Deputy Head of the Centre for Capacity Research (CCR) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). A behavioural scientist by training, he has extensive experience developing, implementing, and evaluating research and health systems strengthening initiatives across sub-Saharan Africa and the South Pacific. Dr Pulford also convenes the ‘TROP 703: Public Health Programmes, Policies and Strategies’ module for LSTM’s MPH programme.
Professor Obiageli Nnodu - Co-lead of the PACTS programme, University of Abuja.
Professor Obiageli Nnodu is Professor of Haematology and Blood Transfusion at the University of Abuja, Nigeria, and Director of its Centre of Excellence for Sickle Cell Disease Research and Training. She leads multiple NIH-funded sickle cell projects and chairs Africa’s largest SCD network. Professor Nnodu also advises the Nigerian government on non-communicable diseases and serves on WHO AFRO committees dedicated to improving sickle cell care.
Professor Alex Osei-Akoto - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Professor Alex Osei-Akoto is Principal Investigator for PACTS in Ghana. A Professor of Child Health at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Consultant Paediatrician at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, he has focused on sickle cell disease for over two decades. Professor Osei-Akoto led key newborn screening initiatives, advised Ghana’s Ministry of Health on SCD, and co-authored numerous publications. He now spearheads PACTS implementation in Ghana, building on his extensive clinical and research leadership in paediatric haematology.
Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka - University of Zambia
Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka is Head of the Paediatric Haematology Department at Zambia’s University Teaching Hospitals–Children’s Hospital. She provides specialised care in sickle cell disease, haemophilia, aplastic anaemia, HIV, and TB, while leading multiple research initiatives. As an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Zambia and an Honorary Fellow at LSTM, she mentors health workers nationwide. Dr. Chunda-Liyoka also advises the Zambian Ministry of Health on paediatric haematology and infectious diseases, and plays a key role in major SCD networks—including SPARCO and PACTS—to strengthen national guidelines and clinical practices.
Useful links
- Centre for Capacity Research | LSTM
- Patient-centred sickle cell disease management in sub-Saharan Africa (PACTS) | LSTM
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Transcript
Dr. Kim Ozano: Hello listeners and welcome to Connecting Citizens to Science,
Speaker:a podcast where we discuss current research and debates in global health.
Speaker:I'm your host, Dr. Kim Ozano, and today we're launching a brand-new miniseries
Speaker:produced in partnership with the Centre for Capacity Research at the
Speaker:Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Speaker:Across three episodes, we'll be exploring the what, why, and how
Speaker:of research capacity strengthening.
Speaker:In this first episode, we'll hear from colleagues who've embedded capacity
Speaker:strengthening into a real-world
Speaker:implementation research project called PACTS.
Speaker:PACTS is an NIHR Global Health Research Group on patient-centred sickle cell
Speaker:disease management in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker:Prof. Obiageli Nondu: Capacity strengthening research is
Speaker:important because it brings along all the stakeholders who
Speaker:can make an impact or not in
Speaker:whether that research is implemented or not for sustainability.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Our guest today will share how strengthening research skills
Speaker:and systems can improve patient care and truly foster sustainable change.
Speaker:We're recording on location at the PACTS year three Partners Meeting
Speaker:and are joined by four guests.
Speaker:We'll start by hearing from Dr. Justin Pulford from the Center for
Speaker:Capacity Research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who sets
Speaker:the stage on why research capacity strengthening is so essential.
Speaker:We'll then have a conversation with three guests, including Professor
Speaker:Obi Nnodu from the University of Abuja, who is the co-lead for PACTS.
Speaker:Dr. Alex Osei-Akoto from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in
Speaker:Ghana, and Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka from the University of Zambia.
Speaker:So, let's hear from Justin first.
Speaker:Justin, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker:It's great to have you with us today.
Speaker:So research capacity strengthening.
Speaker:Tell us a bit about what it is, why we need it, and its impact on global equity.
Speaker:Dr. Justin Pulford: Okay.
Speaker:So yes, I'm Dr. Justin Pulford, reader at the Centre for Capacity Research,
Speaker:Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Speaker:And our centre, as the name implies, focuses on producing research to support
Speaker:good capacity strengthening practice.
Speaker:Research capacity strengthening refers to the entire research process
Speaker:from firstly recognising a research question or a problem that could be
Speaker:addressed through research, right through to carrying out the research
Speaker:and then, applying the research results and practice for some benefit.
Speaker:In global health, we talk about research for development.
Speaker:So, a lot of research that takes place in the global health space is
Speaker:to support development objectives.
Speaker:So, research capacity strengthening, in that sense, is supporting
Speaker:research for development goals.
Speaker:Taking that very broad understanding, what that then means is we are
Speaker:not just focused on researchers.
Speaker:Often, when we talk about research capacity strengthening, you think about
Speaker:the individual researcher who might have a PhD or a higher degree and perhaps they've
Speaker:got their lab coat and things like this.
Speaker:Our understanding is much broader than that because research requires
Speaker:more than just the researchers.
Speaker:Uh, it requires research support teams.
Speaker:So, all, all those project administrators, project managers,
Speaker:lab techs, research assistants who support the research process.
Speaker:It involves the communities and settings in which research takes place.
Speaker:And importantly, it involves the end users of research.
Speaker:So, we produce research for a purpose, and we need to ensure that, that the
Speaker:audiences that we want to use and benefit from our research understand
Speaker:why it's important, how to access it, how to use it for, for good.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Excellent.
Speaker:And when we think about research capacity strengthening, you mentioned some of
Speaker:the people that are part of that process.
Speaker:Is it beyond the individual level?
Speaker:Is it with the institution and the system as a whole?
Speaker:Dr. Justin Pulford: Absolutely.
Speaker:We talk about research capacity strengthening in a systems context.
Speaker:You have the individual researchers and research team members, you have
Speaker:the institutions in which they work.
Speaker:And then you have the broader system, uh, needed to apply that research, we need
Speaker:to support capacity strengthening at all three levels if we want to have impact.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: And when we see publications and outputs, we don't always
Speaker:see that capacity strengthening element.
Speaker:Is it about culture in global health that we don't see that so much?
Speaker:Dr. Justin Pulford: Absolutely.
Speaker:So, a, a lot of research that takes place within global health
Speaker:takes place in partnership.
Speaker:So, for example, UK researchers and research teams working with their
Speaker:colleagues from the Global South or whatever term we might use, and the
Speaker:focus is often, particularly in the publications, just on the research output.
Speaker:So re research takes place for a reason.
Speaker:Maybe there's a, a, a research question around, uh, malaria or
Speaker:malaria control, or sexual health, or maternal mortality or some such thing.
Speaker:So, the partnership can have an objective around producing research
Speaker:to support development in those areas.
Speaker:However, the research partnerships can also be used for capacity
Speaker:-strengthening purposes.
Speaker:They can have a dual objective if you like, but they need to be designed that
Speaker:way in order for that to work well.
Speaker:If the focus is only on the research, then often the capacity
Speaker:strengthening opportunities are missed.
Speaker:It can also be the case that these partnerships can support a lot of
Speaker:really good capacity strengthening activity, but it's not necessarily
Speaker:as well advertised or promoted as the research outputs that they produce.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Okay.
Speaker:So sometimes it's there, even if we may not have heard about it and in other
Speaker:places, perhaps there needs to be more of a focus to ensure that capacity
Speaker:strengthening is multi-directional?
Speaker:Dr. Justin Pulford: I think fundamentally, again, particularly in the global
Speaker:health space, we need to think about why there are international research
Speaker:partnerships in the first place.
Speaker:Often the reason we have such partnerships is because the needed
Speaker:capacities locally are not available.
Speaker:So in order to carry out research of national importance, these international
Speaker:partnerships need to be formed.
Speaker:However, if those partnerships only ever focus on the research and not
Speaker:strengthening the system in our partner countries, then that reliance on your
Speaker:international partner will continue.
Speaker:And the potential for inequity will remain in place.
Speaker:However, if such partnerships have these capacity strengthening objectives,
Speaker:if they're designed in a way that can support system strengthening, then not
Speaker:only are we producing good research, we are reducing the reliance on such
Speaker:partnerships in the first place...
Speaker:... Dr. Kim Ozano: Affecting that power dynamic that we're seeing a lot
Speaker:played out in global health and addressing some of that equity.
Speaker:One more question, you mentioned a lot of the actors involved
Speaker:in capacity strengthening.
Speaker:Can you talk to me a bit more about capacity strengthening for research
Speaker:in the field of being a clinician
Speaker:? Dr. Justin Pulford: When supporting research strengthening with clinicians,
Speaker:we, we have to be mindful of two things.
Speaker:One, one, they're not research specialists.
Speaker:Two, they don't necessarily have as much time or resource as a research specialist.
Speaker:And so, we are looking for research approaches that fit
Speaker:well in that context and can be readily employed for good effect.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: So, thank you to Justin for that overview of
Speaker:research capacity strengthening.
Speaker:Now let's turn to those who are putting these principles into practice.
Speaker:I'm delighted to welcome Professor Obi Nnodu,Dr.
Speaker:Alex Osei-Akoto and
Speaker:and Catherine Chunda-Liyoka to share their experiences of embedding capacity
Speaker:strengthening on the ground and how it's transforming patient-centred
Speaker:care for sickle cell disease.
Speaker:Obi, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker:It's great to have you with us today.
Speaker:You're very passionate about research capacity strengthening in
Speaker:the work you do, but in terms of thinking about global equity, the
Speaker:importance of research capacity strengthening is also quite critical.
Speaker:So, please set us up by talking about how you became aware of
Speaker:research capacity strengthening and what it has meant to you.
Speaker:Prof. Obiageli Nondu: Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker:I'm a consultant haematologist and I'm also a professor of haematology.
Speaker:The first 15 years of my career was in a purely clinical setting where I
Speaker:acquired trainings that were supposed to help me to provide services and
Speaker:improve my care of the patients.
Speaker:Then when I made a career transition to a teaching position in the university, I
Speaker:really felt that I needed to strengthen my ability to conduct research.
Speaker:And that sets me on a pathway to where I am today.
Speaker:So, I would say that by training you are getting clinical skills, but that research
Speaker:aspect is not so well demonstrated and not so well embedded in what we're doing.
Speaker:And um, if you're not careful, when you do collaborate with people from
Speaker:research-intensive universities, you may just end up being like
Speaker:a specimen collector, and so you have to go after that skill.
Speaker:You have to develop that skill to be able to think, to be able to do
Speaker:proposals, to be able to generate ideas and to be, you know, a core
Speaker:contributor in that process instead of just being at the receiving end of it.
Speaker:So that equity is very important, and it can only be done intentionally
Speaker:for you to build that capacity.
Speaker:So, that's what I've always wanted to do, not only for myself, but to
Speaker:make sure that the people I'm working with in my institution and other
Speaker:institutions, also have that capacity, strength and I think the very first
Speaker:instance was when I had a DFID project, so I came to the Liverpool School of
Speaker:Tropical Medicine and I did a course in international health consultancy.
Speaker:And this aspect of strengthening the capacity of LMIC investigators or
Speaker:clinicians or, when you have a project, DFID wants to see capacity of those
Speaker:institutions built as a part of it.
Speaker:So that also opened my eyes to desire and to ask and to embed it
Speaker:in collaborations going forward.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Alex and Catherine, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker:Does this resonate with your experience as well?
Speaker:Prof. Alex Osei-Akoto: Thank you.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's very important for those of us in the LMIC that we're able to
Speaker:stand on our own and also collaborate effectively with collaborators
Speaker:from the high-income countries.
Speaker:So that there are no gaps in there, so that if we are doing the work
Speaker:for funders, we'll do it on the same scale to bring up needed outputs.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: And what has been some of the surprising moments for you as
Speaker:you've learned more about research?
Speaker:Prof. Alex Osei-Akoto: I started also as a clinician with no research agendas,
Speaker:because in school we are not trained very much on research until after school.
Speaker:So, when I joined a research group, I had to learn the basics from the start.
Speaker:And this is what we want to change so that as soon as people enter
Speaker:school, we start strengthening them with knowledge and skills of research.
Speaker:Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka: I had slightly a bit of a difference in
Speaker:experience in that I was probably coming in a generation where Dr.
Speaker:Catherine Chunda-Liyoka who took me on as soon as I finished my undergraduate
Speaker:training and was even fortunate enough whilst I was doing my undergraduate
Speaker:training, I managed to get a grant.
Speaker:And that's where the interest came and as soon as I completed,
Speaker:I was doing my clinical work, but I already had this mentor who was
Speaker:heavily embedded in research and I was already doing research with her.
Speaker:And that's where my interest really grew to the point where I am right
Speaker:now doing my own independent research.
Speaker:We do have a situation in my country right now where young doctors graduating
Speaker:are not getting employed immediately.
Speaker:So, it gives me an opportunity to actually take them in and begin doing research.
Speaker:And I must say also I have seen as well that research field has really grown.
Speaker:There was so much of doing quantitative sort of research, but now even as we
Speaker:move on to where we are, where the three countries are collaborating,
Speaker:we are now trying to do what we are calling implementation research.
Speaker:It's something that is new, but something that we are learning and
Speaker:also hoping we can pass on to the younger generations that are coming.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: It is good to get a feel for that change over time as well.
Speaker:And it sounds like generations as they go on are understanding
Speaker:the importance of research and strengthening that capacity earlier on.
Speaker:Obi, tell us about PACTS what it's about and how you embedded research capacity
Speaker:strengthening within the programme.
Speaker:Prof. Obiageli Nondu: So, PACTS is a Patient-centred Management of Sickle
Speaker:Cell Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker:It's a project that is actually embedded on two other projects, which
Speaker:are common to all three countries.
Speaker:The first is a Sickle Pan African research consortium project, where
Speaker:three countries, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, were involved in
Speaker:developing a registry of sickle cell patients in the three countries.
Speaker:We aimed to have that registry of 13,000 patients who were coming to our clinics.
Speaker:We recruited them into the registry.
Speaker:Then we also developed uniform standard of care guidelines,
Speaker:multi-level- primary, secondary, tertiary level, and also home care.
Speaker:And then we wanted to develop capacity for database management
Speaker:research as well as multidisciplinary management of sickle cell disease.
Speaker:Alex and I chaired the skills working group, but we realised that within
Speaker:that project we did not have as much skills in research as we wanted.
Speaker:So that still left a gap.
Speaker:The other project is the Consortium for Newborn Screening for
Speaker:sickle cell disease in Africa.
Speaker:In that consortium we wanted to demonstrate the feasibility of newborn
Speaker:screening to African government so that they'll be able to take it up.
Speaker:So, this is the foundation of patient centred management.
Speaker:So, we have these patients in the registry in the countries, but we felt that
Speaker:we were not doing much for them apart from enrolling them in the registry.
Speaker:So we still felt that we needed to do a little bit more to centre the
Speaker:care on the patient, especially when we see the rate of loss to follow up.
Speaker:So that was why we felt evidence-based interventions were not being implemented
Speaker:and we sought to do another project where we'll focus on the patients and where
Speaker:we'll focus on bringing evidence-based interventions to the patient.
Speaker:So that is what PACTS is about, of course, within that, we also wanted to embed
Speaker:skills for research inside of it, both at institutional and at personal level.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: I think at the individual level we'll be hearing
Speaker:more in the following episodes.
Speaker:But Catherine, you mentioned how strengthening research capacity
Speaker:can improve care for patients, can help inform policy makers and
Speaker:also connect with communities.
Speaker:Can you tell us more that link?
Speaker:Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka: Yes, you can have these different consortium
Speaker:of research groups doing different things and yet all those activities
Speaker:coalesce to actually ultimately improve the care of the patients.
Speaker:Maybe to highlight some of the things that we have discovered; caregivers
Speaker:find it difficult to accept a diagnosis for a child who looks well, okay, we
Speaker:inform them the child has got this disease, and yet the child looks well
Speaker:to them so they're not coming back.
Speaker:Quite a number of our patients live very far from where they seek healthcare,
Speaker:that in itself is a barrier that is preventing them from, even when they
Speaker:want to come to the health facility to seek help, they're actually not.
Speaker:Within the work that we have been doing, we are discovering that actually
Speaker:a particular area has got a lot of people that have got this disease
Speaker:and yet there's no health facility that is close, or the health facility
Speaker:itself does not provide the kind of care that they need, the patients
Speaker:themselves are actually getting involved.
Speaker:We have one particular health facility in my country, Zambia, where the patients
Speaker:themselves, the community themselves, they actually speaking to the policy makers
Speaker:or the leaders within their community to see if they can introduce care.
Speaker:If they can begin to put within the health facility, things that would help
Speaker:them provide care for the patients and not have to walk long distances to seek
Speaker:help as they've been doing in the past.
Speaker:That is just how you know, research and the information that you unearth from
Speaker:research can actually change how you care for the patients, change how the policy
Speaker:makers think about the disease and how they can provide better care to patients.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Thank you.
Speaker:It's that know-do gap.
Speaker:It's creating evidence and then making sure it's heard by
Speaker:the right people and taken up.
Speaker:And Alex, at the national level and through policy makers, do
Speaker:you have any comments on how they respond to evidence and whether
Speaker:there has to be research capacity strengthening for that level as well?
Speaker:Prof. Alex Osei-Akoto: Capacity strengthening for policy makers is also
Speaker:important because they would have to take the research findings and put it
Speaker:in policy, and so they must understand what the capacity they need and also
Speaker:from the researchers' point to be able to have an interaction with them.
Speaker:Currently in Ghana we have formed between the researchers, journalists,
Speaker:and also policy makers, a forum such that if research findings come out, it'll
Speaker:be easy to be able to be captured by journalists and giving out to the public
Speaker:as well as the policy makers also using that for policy change and all that.
Speaker:And these are all in the end going to help patients.
Speaker:When Catherine was speaking about communities, it's important that now
Speaker:even with PACTS, we are going into the communities trying to educate
Speaker:them and the community members themselves; also carrying information
Speaker:back to others who haven't had that.
Speaker:That is also a way of empowering the community members and at the
Speaker:same time also trying to demystify sickle cell disease stigma.
Speaker:There's a lot of stigma about the disease, and we know that if many people
Speaker:get the information, the knowledge, they will be able to pass it on
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:to others who don't have the chance to go to clinics or other areas of for help.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: We have a lot of evidence here of how research capacity
Speaker:strengthening helps to improve patient care, and connect with policy makers.
Speaker:How has that affected strengthening capacity for research?
Speaker:Have you had to do it quickly because, it's quite a quick turnaround
Speaker:in terms collecting evidence and embedding it within programmes.
Speaker:Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka: Particularly within the participatory action cycles,
Speaker:we have come to a point where we are interacting more with the community as
Speaker:compared to the way we interacting before.
Speaker:Being clinicians, we sit at healthcare facilities and, wait for patients to come.
Speaker:But now we've actually begun to realise we need to do something to
Speaker:be able to draw the patients to us.
Speaker:And I believe on the community side, it has helped them demystify us.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Because I think a lot of things have come out.
Speaker:The patients have actually mentioned them thinking we're very unfriendly
Speaker:as one of the reasons why they won't to come to the hospital.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:It is very interesting also to see that we seem to have very similar, problems,
Speaker:whether it's in the health facilities themselves or the community; the very
Speaker:things that are coming out from Nigeria are coming out from Ghana from, from
Speaker:Zambia as well, but also it has enabled us from these groups where those kind
Speaker:of conversations can go on, helping us understand each other, helping us see
Speaker:how we can better provide a service and also bring the patients to us.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: So, looking towards the next generation, 'cause we've talked
Speaker:about the different generations already.
Speaker:What advice would you give to others who are at that beginning of not
Speaker:really understanding research capacity strengthening, but knowing it's important?
Speaker:What advice would you give to them?
Speaker:Prof. Obiageli Nondu: Interestingly two of my former students, I involved them
Speaker:in the research I was doing right from when they were undergraduate students.
Speaker:So, they're learning by just watching and being a part of what I'm doing.
Speaker:And they've grown.
Speaker:They are, they're doing well.
Speaker:They're publishing and they're excited to have the opportunity to work with us.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: So, creating that motivation and getting in there early
Speaker:on in, in training to really talk about research much more in evidence.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:Alex?
Speaker:Bit of advice.
Speaker:Prof. Alex Osei-Akoto: Clinicians should not look at patients just
Speaker:by the little time of interaction with them in the consulting rooms.
Speaker:Rather, they should think beyond the consulting room.
Speaker:How did this patient even come to the consulting room?
Speaker:Some of them come from very far off and they spend money, transport and all that.
Speaker:Sometimes it's a, it is a barrier for them, and so when as a clinician you
Speaker:are seeing such patients, you should just think beyond that little time, 10
Speaker:minute, 15 minute interaction, so that you are able to give advice, you are able
Speaker:to, show them what it is that they have to do to have a good quality of life.
Speaker:If you're able to explain things to them very well and then they can take care of
Speaker:themselves when they have problems, and so they get the trust to be able to, as
Speaker:it were, come nearer you, because if the patient don't come, they will suffer.
Speaker:We don't want that to happen.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Thank you very much.
Speaker:It's, it sounds like it's about identifying mutual benefit for them as
Speaker:well, so that motivation comes through, but also, I love hearing from you don't
Speaker:just think about the person as a treatment in a one-off, but think about their
Speaker:whole lives and how they're impacted.
Speaker:Take us home.
Speaker:One final piece of advice for future clinicians around research.
Speaker:Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka: I think I would just like to begin with indicating
Speaker:that the picture may look a bit gloomy for young people that are coming on
Speaker:to research, but drawing from my own experience, I would like to say to the
Speaker:young people that the mentors are there.
Speaker:I found them myself even as I joined PACTS, I know Alex
Speaker:and and uh, Obi actually been working together for some time.
Speaker:They're quite seasoned researchers.
Speaker:So, I was being taken on as somebody who had very little knowledge
Speaker:about implementation research.
Speaker:And all I went in with was I had some little experience and I was ready to
Speaker:learn this other form of doing research.
Speaker:So, my first advice is that the mentors are there.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then also just to appreciate really the landscape of research.
Speaker:Most of research done in the past has been to go in, find out
Speaker:numbers or this is the problem.
Speaker:That is a problem.
Speaker:That is a problem, okay.
Speaker:So this other arm of research that has come is actually now to
Speaker:trying to find out why is there that high number of this problem?
Speaker:Why is there this long number of this problem?
Speaker:And that is, I think, how the concept that Alex mentioned comes in.
Speaker:These are people.
Speaker:They have these problems.
Speaker:They're not able to come to the health facility.
Speaker:They don't have money.
Speaker:The old research that we used to do, really just used to bring out those
Speaker:numbers, not really telling us why our patients are having those problems.
Speaker:Implementation research with the standard based audits and the participatory action
Speaker:cycles does not just unearth reasons why things are this bad, things are that good,
Speaker:but actually begins to find solutions with all the people that are involved.
Speaker:Whether it's the clinicians, it's the patients, it's the communities they
Speaker:live in, it's the families they live in.
Speaker:It actually begins to formulate solution that are tailored to the communities
Speaker:that those patients actually live in.
Speaker:So, for me, that is something I find really interesting.
Speaker:It almost like answers all the questions.
Speaker:It's a roundabout way of answering all the potential problems that patients may have.
Speaker:In implementation research or in the cycles that we're following,
Speaker:we are actually trying different ways of solving a problem so that
Speaker:if this doesn't work, you can abandon it and start something else.
Speaker:And you are actually doing that not just as clinicians, sitting up high
Speaker:there and we have the solutions now, but actually involving the very people
Speaker:that you've identified the problem in getting them on board to actually find
Speaker:out what could be done different so that things are different for them.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker:What a, a great way to end and a great summary of the conversation
Speaker:we've had today as well.
Speaker:So, thank you for joining our podcast and we will be learning more
Speaker:moving on to the next episode about how that's been done in practice.
Speaker:So, thank you.
Speaker:Prof. Obiageli Nondu: Thank you very much.
Speaker:Dr. Catherine Chunda-Liyoka: Thank you very much.
Speaker:Dr. Kim Ozano: That brings us to the end of this first episode in our miniseries
Speaker:on research capacity strengthening.
Speaker:We've heard how a structured collaborative approach can bring vital benefits,
Speaker:not just for researchers, but also for the communities they serve.
Speaker:In our next episode, we'll explore in more depth how learning by doing helps
Speaker:bridge the know-do gap with a focus on bridging diverse stakeholders from
Speaker:national project managers to the media.
Speaker:So, if you found this episode valuable, please take a moment
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Speaker:It truly helps us to spread and share these important voices.
Speaker:Until next time, stay curious, stay engaged, and let's continue challenging
Speaker:the systems that shape global health.
