From the office of the Director
On the behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Elder Prof. Chigozie N. Ogbu, I wish to welcome you to the African Institute for Health Policy & Health Systems of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki Nigeria. Health policy and systems research (HPSR) has been defined by the Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research (AHPSR) of World Health Organization (WHO) as “the production of new knowledge to improve how societies organize themselves to achieve health goals”. In Africa, health outcomes have been described as unacceptably poor and at the center of this crisis is a failure of health systems. HPSR in Africa is burdened with a number of challenges including under-investment, lack of critical human capacity, lack of public demand, inadequate utilization, poor dissemination of results, and the huge gap existing between research and policy.
The WHO, is currently vigorously supporting the process of contextualizing evidence and translating it into policy through the utility of HPSR in many developing countries. This area of research focus is so important to policymaking because capacity constraints at the individual and organizational levels are perceived to be major impediments in HPSR evidence use in the health policy making process. The lack of highly skilful manpower in health policy and health systems is affecting adequate capacity building, mentorship and health service delivery. Yet there are few formal platforms to enhance the capacity of those involved in making policy with the requisite skill and knowledge necessary for the process. It has been argued that the more the evidence-to-policy process is understood, the greater the ability to incorporate research findings in policy. One major way of addressing this problem is the institutionalization of HPSR.
Following the support of AHPSR/WHO we have institutionalized HPSR with the establishment of the African Institute for Health Policy & Health Systems in Ebonyi State University Nigeria. The mandate of the Institute is to promote HPSR, its training and application in Africa through: research; teaching; public service; networking/ partnership; research dissemination; policy making; workshops/conferences; policy implementation platform; fellowships/awards; and academic exchange programmes. At the Institute we are fully committed to the building of critical competencies that will result in sustainable and effective health systems in Africa. Our focus includes the discovery and innovation for health systems and health policy, i.e. stewardship, governance, financing, resource management, informatics, as well as service delivery. The Institute will not relent in its role of building the capacities of policy makers to make critical choices for limited HPSR resources in Africa.
Prof. C. Jesse Uneke , FAI, FSHP
Director and Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics
Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki