Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul;6(7):e006019.
doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006019.

Beyond the metrics of health research performance in African countries

Rhona Mijumbi-Deve  1   2 , Justin Parkhurst  3 , Catherine Jones  4 , Pamela A Juma  4 , Joelle L Sobngwi-Tambekou  4   5 , Clare Wenham  3
Affiliations

Beyond the metrics of health research performance in African countries

Rhona Mijumbi-Deve et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

While it is important to be able to evaluate and measure a country's performance in health research (HR), HR systems are complex and multifaceted in nature. As such, attempts at measurement can suffer several limitations which risk leading to inadequate indices or representations. In this study, we critically review common indicators of HR capacity and performance and explore their strengths and limitations. The paper is informed by review of data sources and documents, combined with interviews and peer-to-peer learning activities conducted with officials working in health and education ministries in a set of nine African countries. We find that many metrics that can assess HR performance have gaps in the conceptualisation or fail to address local contextual realities, which makes it a challenge to interpret them in relation to other theoretical constructs. Our study identified several concepts that are excluded from current definitions of indicators and systems of metrics for HR performance. These omissions may be particularly important for interpreting HR performance within the context and processes of HR in African countries, and thus challenging the relevance, utility, appropriateness and acceptability of universal measures of HR in the region. We discuss the challenges that scholars may find in conceptualising such a complex phenomenon-including the different and competing viewpoints of stakeholders, in setting objectives of HR measurement work, and in navigating the realities of empirical measurement where missing or partial data may necessitate that proxies or alternative indicators may be chosen. These findings are important to ensure that the global health community does not rely on over-simplistic evaluations of HR when analysing and planning for improvements in low-income and middle-income countries.

Keywords: health policy; health services research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Similar articles

  • Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas.
    Crider K, Williams J, Qi YP, Gutman J, Yeung L, Mai C, Finkelstain J, Mehta S, Pons-Duran C, Menéndez C, Moraleda C, Rogers L, Daniels K, Green P. Crider K, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Feb 1;2(2022):CD014217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014217. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022. PMID: 36321557 Free PMC article.
  • Beyond the black stump: rapid reviews of health research issues affecting regional, rural and remote Australia.
    Osborne SR, Alston LV, Bolton KA, Whelan J, Reeve E, Wong Shee A, Browne J, Walker T, Versace VL, Allender S, Nichols M, Backholer K, Goodwin N, Lewis S, Dalton H, Prael G, Curtin M, Brooks R, Verdon S, Crockett J, Hodgins G, Walsh S, Lyle DM, Thompson SC, Browne LJ, Knight S, Pit SW, Jones M, Gillam MH, Leach MJ, Gonzalez-Chica DA, Muyambi K, Eshetie T, Tran K, May E, Lieschke G, Parker V, Smith A, Hayes C, Dunlop AJ, Rajappa H, White R, Oakley P, Holliday S. Osborne SR, et al. Med J Aust. 2020 Dec;213 Suppl 11:S3-S32.e1. doi: 10.5694/mja2.50881. Med J Aust. 2020. PMID: 33314144
  • The future of Cochrane Neonatal.
    Soll RF, Ovelman C, McGuire W. Soll RF, et al. Early Hum Dev. 2020 Nov;150:105191. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105191. Epub 2020 Sep 12. Early Hum Dev. 2020. PMID: 33036834
  • Tuberculosis.
    Bloom BR, Atun R, Cohen T, Dye C, Fraser H, Gomez GB, Knight G, Murray M, Nardell E, Rubin E, Salomon J, Vassall A, Volchenkov G, White R, Wilson D, Yadav P. Bloom BR, et al. In: Holmes KK, Bertozzi S, Bloom BR, Jha P, editors. Major Infectious Diseases. 3rd edition. Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; 2017 Nov 3. Chapter 11. In: Holmes KK, Bertozzi S, Bloom BR, Jha P, editors. Major Infectious Diseases. 3rd edition. Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; 2017 Nov 3. Chapter 11. PMID: 30212088 Free Books & Documents. Review.
  • Economic Burden of Chronic Ill Health and Injuries for Households in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
    Essue BM, Laba M., Knaul F, Chu A, Minh HV, Nguyen TKP, Jan S. Essue BM, et al. In: Jamison DT, Gelband H, Horton S, Jha P, Laxminarayan R, Mock CN, Nugent R, editors. Disease Control Priorities: Improving Health and Reducing Poverty. 3rd edition. Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; 2017 Nov 27. Chapter 6. In: Jamison DT, Gelband H, Horton S, Jha P, Laxminarayan R, Mock CN, Nugent R, editors. Disease Control Priorities: Improving Health and Reducing Poverty. 3rd edition. Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; 2017 Nov 27. Chapter 6. PMID: 30212160 Free Books & Documents. Review.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Commission on Health Research for Development . Health research: essential link to equity in development. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1990.
    1. WHO . World health report 2013: research for universal health coverage. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2013.
    1. Nature.com . Health sciences, 2019. Available: https://www.nature.com/subjects/health-sciences
    1. Blom A, Lan G, Adil M, et al. . Technology, engineering, and mathematics research: a decade of development. Washington D.C.: The World Bank, 2015.
    1. Bates I, Boyd A, Aslanyan G, et al. . Tackling the tensions in evaluating capacity strengthening for health research in low- and middle-income countries. Health Policy Plan 2015;30:334–44. 10.1093/heapol/czu016 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types