Journal article
"It takes more than a fellowship program": reflections on capacity strengthening for health systems research in sub-Saharan Africa
BMC health services research, v 17(Suppl 2), pp 696-696
04 Dec 2017
PMID: 29219076
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experiences an acute dearth of well-trained and skilled researchers. This dearth constrains the region's capacity to identify and address the root causes of its poor social, health, development, and other outcomes. Building sustainable research capacity in SSA requires, among other things, locally led and run initiatives that draw on existing regional capacities as well as mutually beneficial global collaborations. This paper describes a regional research capacity strengthening initiative-the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship (ADDRF) program. This Africa-based and African-led initiative has emerged as a practical and tested platform for producing and nurturing research leaders, strengthening university-wide systems for quality research training and productivity, and building a critical mass of highly-trained African scholars and researchers. The program deploys different interventions to ensure the success of fellows. These interventions include research methods and scientific writing workshops, research and reentry support grants, post-doctoral research support and placements, as well as grants for networking and scholarly conferences attendance. Across the region, ADDRF graduates are emerging as research leaders, showing signs of becoming the next generation of world-class researchers, and supporting the transformations of their home-institutions. While the contributions of the ADDRF program to research capacity strengthening in the region are significant, the sustainability of the initiative and other research and training fellowship programs on the continent requires significant investments from local sources and, especially, governments and the private sector in Africa. The ADDRF experience demonstrates that research capacity building in Africa is possible through innovative, multifaceted interventions that support graduate students to develop different critical capacities and transferable skills and build, expand, and maintain networks that can sustain them as scholars and researchers.
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Details
- Title
- "It takes more than a fellowship program": reflections on capacity strengthening for health systems research in sub-Saharan Africa
- Creators
- Chimaraoke O Izugbara - School of Public Health, The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. cizugbara@aphrc.orgCaroline W Kabiru - School of Public Health, The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaDjesika Amendah - African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, KenyaZacharie Tsala Dimbuene - Department of Demography, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the CongoHermann Pythagore Pierre Donfouet - African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, KenyaEsso-Hanam Atake - Department of Economic Sciences, University of Lomé, Lomé, TogoMarie-Gloriose Ingabire - International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, CanadaStephen Maluka - Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaJoyce N Mumah - African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, KenyaMatilu Mwau - Department of Medical Microbiology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, KenyaMollyne Ndinya - African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, KenyaKenneth Ngure - Department of Community Health, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, KenyaEstelle M Sidze - African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, KenyaCharles Sossa - Regional Institute of Public Health, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, BeninAbdramane Soura - Ouagadougou Health and Demographic Surveillance System, ISSP, Université de Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoAlex C Ezeh - School of Public Health, The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Publication Details
- BMC health services research, v 17(Suppl 2), pp 696-696
- Publisher
- Springer BMC; England
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Community Health and Prevention
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000417077900001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85037625635
- Other Identifier
- 991014878097004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Health Care Sciences & Services