Eliciting policymakers’ and stakeholders’ opinions to help shape health system research priorities in the Middle East and North Africa region

摘要

Evidence-informed decisions can strengthen health systems. Literature suggests that engaging policymakers and other stakeholders in research priority-setting exercises increases the likelihood of the utilization of research evidence by policymakers. To our knowledge, there has been no previous priority-setting exercise in health policy and systems research in countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This paper presents the results of a recent research priority-setting exercise that identified regional policy concerns and research priorities related to health financing, human resources and the non-state sector, based on stakeholders in nine low and middle income countries (LMICs) of the MENA region. The countries included in this study were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.