Bringing all together for research capacity building in LMICs
Authors: Pratik Khanal
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2017)

The Comment by David Beran and colleagues in the Lancet Global Health1Beran D, Byass P, Gbakima A, et al. Research capacity building–obligations for global health partners. Lancet Glob Health; 5: e567–68.Google Scholar rightly points out the need to address inequity in research investment in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) through focus on capacity building of research institutions and preference of population needs over funders' interests. Investment in research depends on whether countries recognise research as a means to achieve development. However, research in LMICs is challenged with poor investment by both government and funders; weak coordination between researchers and policy makers in evidence generation, evidence synthesis, and its use in decision making; inadequate funding to the researchers to execute their research ideas; and, very importantly, discouraging research environments to groom prospective researchers.2Franzen SR Chandler C Lang T Health research capacity development in low and middle income countries: reality or rhetoric? A systematic meta-narrative review of the qualitative literature.BMJ Open. 2017; 7: e012332Crossref PubMed Scopus (144) Google Scholar Research culture in LMICs can thus be promoted if mechanisms exist to bring research organisations, funding organisations, policy makers, and academia together.3Sturke R Vorkoper S Duncan K Levintova M Parascondola M Addressing NCDs through research and capacity building in LMICs: lessons learned from tobacco control.Glob Health Action. 2016; 9: 32407Crossref Scopus (14) Google Scholar This approach will not only encourage researchers to do research, but will also help in setting research priorities and factoring research outcomes into decision making. The benefits of shared research responsibility in LMICs are also important. Researchers in LMICs are often given low recognition and their role is limited to data collection.4Belizán JM, Miller S. What can WHO do to support research in LMICs? Lancet; 389: 1697.Google Scholar Research such as clinical trials of drugs and vaccines is increasingly being done in LMICs, with evidence showing insufficient efforts made by pharmaceutical companies with respect to research and development strategy.5Weigmann K The ethics of global clinical trials.EMBO Rep. 2015; 16: 566-570Crossref PubMed Scopus (34) Google Scholar This scientific inequity demands the regulatory body for research in LMICs to oversee not only the contribution of research to the body of knowledge, but also the benefits it brings to the local population and local researchers. Collaboration of governments, national research committees and councils, research organisations, and academic institutions in LMICs and high-income countries will thus be crucial to share research expertise and achieve scientific equity in global health research.6Atkins S Marsden S Diwan V Zwarenstein M North–south collaboration and capacity development in global health research in low-and middle-income countries—the ARCADE projects.Glob Health Action. 2016; 9: 30524Crossref Google Scholar However, it is also important that the government share a fair proportion of the national budget in the research. The state commitment will also help to bring in resources from high-income countries to LMICs. The idea of whole research should now shift from mere publication to a focus on research needs, value for money, and use of research findings. I declare no competing interests. Research capacity building—obligations for global health partnersGlobal health continues to gain pace as a discipline, as is evident from the amount of funding available for challenges relevant to low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs)1,2 and the growth of journals in this field. This growth has been driven in no small part by the targets and indicators of the Millennium Development Goals. Successes towards achieving these goals, however, have often come from expertise, funding, and ideas flowing from high income countries (HICs) to LMICs; with HIC players being accused of parachuting in to LMICs to act or set up state of the art, HIC led and staffed facilities. Full-Text PDF Open Access