The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the allocation of more resources to research activities in the African region in response to the critical health problems facing the region.

The call was made Monday at the opening of a five-day meeting of an expert panel on research in Port Louis, Mauritius, by the Director of Progamme Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), Dr Luis G. Sambo.

Dr Sambo observed that there was not only a global imbalance in the distribution of resources for research between rich and poor countries, but also that a number of factors continued to impact negatively on the availability and affordability of new products. He listed these factors as including insufficient incentive for some key actors in investing in the development of new products, capital requirements needed to develop and market new products, and the limited purchasing power of poor countries .

The AFRO Director of Programme Management then pledged that WHO would work with countries and other development partners towards narrowing the existing gap between developed and developing countries in the generation of, access to, and utilization of scientific knowledge for improving health, particularly in favour of poor and marginalized populations.

Dr Sambo commended Mauritius for its very good health indicators as well as the good performance of its health system, saying that WHO would strengthen technical cooperation with the country mainly in the areas of health information system development, capacity building in epidemiology, health informatics and burden of disease evaluation.

In his remarks, the Mauritian Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Hon. Askok Jugnauth, warned that "improving the health of people and enhancing their quality of life is not possible without research." He said: "Research, not only medical and biomedical, but also socio-economic and behavioural, is no doubt of tremendous use to us. The analysis of evidence is a critical task at all levels of development. Without evidence, we will be functioning in a vacuum. And evidence is provided only through research."

Hon. Jugnauth stressed the importance of health systems research which he said provided tools for accurate policy decisions, appropriate technologies and cost-effective investment. "Such research is the foundation for assessment, evaluation and monitoring, using indicators that objectively measure and promote equity in the distribution of resources, performance of health systems, including the quality and accessibility of health services, and the satisfaction of health consumers."

The Minister also touched on the issue of capacity building in research, which he said should be a continuing activity to upgrade skills and knowledge; the ethical aspects of research; and the establishment of research agendas, which he believed should be established through dialogue between the community of health researchers and all partners, including users of health services.

The four-day meeting of the 15-member African Advisory Committee for Health Research and Development (AACHRD) is, among other things, exploring practical modalities for addressing bioethiocal challenges in health research in the African Region as well as for defining mechanisms for enhancing research in traditional medicine.

It is also examining modalities for the effective promotion of research in training institutions, and priorities and perspectives for research on non-communicable diseases. The meeting is expected to provide the opportunity to obtain perspectives of the WHO African Region on planned activities of the global Advisory Committee on Health Research.

The AACHRD is a multidisciplinary and mutlisectoral body established in 1979 to advise the Regional Director of WHO Regional Office for Africa on matters of health research polices and development strategies. 

For further information, please Samuel T. Ajibola 

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