IDRC Reports Archives

PREVIOUS ISSUES: April 1994 (Volume 22, Number 1)
HEALTH RESEARCH THAT MATTERS

Today all countries of the world face an urgent need to set priorities in the health research they conduct to help improve the well-being of their populations. Nowhere is this need more pressing than in developing countries which suffer the lion's share of the global burden of illness while possessing a pauper's share of technical financial and human resources.

IDRC has supported the Essential National Health Research (ENHR) strategy for some four years because it offers an effective and equitable means of setting health research priorities. It also tilts the balance away from strictly biomedical research toward greater emphasis on social and behavioural aspects.

The ENHR strategy requires researchers and policy makers in the health field to bring in a third partner that is too often overlooked: people in local communities. Frequently people express great concern about vital health issues that can elude epidemiologists and ministries of health. Communities can also lead research to obstacles in other sectors that bear directly on people's health such as employment education housing and agriculture.

The recent establishment of the Council on Research for Health and Development in Geneva represents international recognition of the value of ENHR and the opportunity to involve more countries and institutions in applying this important strategy.

Eileen Conway
Editor-in-Chief
IDRC Reports

Contents:

• Toward Equity in Health Research The Essential National Health Research strategy involves communities, researchers and decision makers as equal partners in the difficult job of setting priorities. Richard Wilson
• A Nation of Health Researchers In Benin, the net was cast wide to establish national health priorities that spoke to the real concerns of communities. Jerome Adiakou Badou
• A Movement, A Spirit, A Lifestyle Change Street children, victims of violence, and disabled persons are all on the new agenda for health research in the Philippines. John Eberlee
• Targeting Basic Health Problems Bangladesh's ENHR strategy is led by the NGO sector and pays attention to the socio-economic factors crucial in health promotion. Roushan Zaman
• Closing Gaps in Health Education An Egyptian and a Canadian university coordinate a global network trying to move health education in medical institutions closer to community needs. Craig Harris
• A Mexican Approach to Health Priorities The national committee implementing ENHR scours the country to identify the main health challenges in the years ahead. Brigitte Morissette
• Breeding a Better Banana Ecologically friendly, disease-resistant, productive and tasty Goldfinger is a banana of truly heroic proportions. Michelle Hibler and Diane Hardy
• Clean Water for All Residents of a tropical forest and a Sao Paulo shantytown share a common solution to ensuring the quality of their drinking water. Denis Marchand
• Sao Paulo's Troubled Waters Research on the impact of sewage and chemicals on Sao Paulo's groundwater creates a Latin American centre of knowledge. Kirsteen MacLeod
• The Legacy of Malaysia's Tin Mines A new method for reclaiming slurry ponds answers environmental and safety worries while providing land for urgently needed housing. Maureen Johnson
• Along the World's Coastlines The Coastal Resources Research Network moves into new waters to improve productivity for communities that rely on aquatic resources. Jennifer Henderson

ISSN 0315-9981 This magazine is listed in the Canadian Magazine Index.

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