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Table 2 Facilitating factors and barriers to malaria research utilization for policy development

From: Facilitating factors and barriers to malaria research utilization for policy development in Malawi

 

Specific factors

Facilitating research uptake factors

 Institutional factors

Global influence on the emphasis of evidence driven policies

The establishment of the department of Research in Ministry of Health

The revival of the Policy Development Unit (PDU) and the development of guidelines for policy development and analysis

The availability of the National Health Research Agenda (NHRA)

Availability of funding organization such as NCST, USPMI, and Global Fund

Establishment of the Knowledge Translation Platform (KTP) and the Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU)

Establishment of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) in Malawi

Technical Working Groups to discuss research, and annual research dissemination conferences

Collaboration of the NMCP and research centres such as the Malaria Alert Centre (MAC)

 Personal factors

Local Researchers trained in various malaria research disciplines

Growing number of researchers interested in knowledge translation

 Research factors

Availability of malaria research conducted in Malawi

Availability of the NHRA that includes the malaria research agenda

A position already established by WHO

Barriers to research uptake

 Institutional factors

Lack of a platform on which researchers can engage with the public

Lack of research capacity at the NMCP

Politics

 Personal factors–researchers

Lack of research communication skills to policy makers

Focus on publishing and career advancement

Lack of collaboration of researchers with policy makers

Lack of collaboration among researchers of different disciplines

 Personal factors–policy makers

Lack of time to find and read research articles

Inability of research synthesis

Lack of motivation and rigid to change

Mistrust of research findings

 Research factors

Research not addressing the country’s needs

Funder driven research

Unknown WHO policy position

Access to malaria research and lack of a malaria research repository