Alignment and harmonization of health research in low income countries
Welcome to AHA webpage – a source of information on alignment and harmonization of health research in low income countries.
There is inadequate funding for health research in low income countries. The leadership and investments of countries in health research relevant to their needs is limited and health research support provided by funders does not often meet countries’ health and health research priorities.
Debates were recently launched on Donor Alignment and Harmonization (AHA) in relation to health research support for low income countries. There is a growing in better understanding how the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness applies to health research. This is the goal of the “AHA initiative”.
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This page will developed into a platform for the exchange of useful information and experiences that help focus health research more sharply on countries’ needs - particularly to allow voices from the South to enter the debate.
We encourage all partners in health research for development to participate in the dialogue to improve health research support for low income countries. |
The AHA initiative:
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A process to engage low income countries and donors in dialogue on more effective funding of health research.
The ‘AHA’ initiative – for alignment and harmonization – looks at health research funding from the perspective of low income countries. It aims is to provide in-depth analysis on health research spending in countries, as a basis for donors and their partner countries to have shared health research agendas. It addresses a number of key questions for the first time:
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The AHA study:
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New analysis of donor activities and country needs for health research
The starting point in this process is the AHA study that received financial support from Sweden’s development cooperation agency, Sida / SAREC. The study analyses health research funding in five African countries by eight donors, to determine the extent of alignment and harmonization, or the lack of it. It examines health research funding in countries for the perspective of: • Who funds health research in the country? |
What is alignment and harmonization and why is it important to health research?
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Health research harmonization is the extent to which donors’ health research activities are coordinated with each other to be most effective for developing countries. Alignment measures how closely donors’ programmes match the health and health research priorities defined by countries.
Alignment and harmonization are crucial to ensuring more effective health research funding that meets developing countries’ needs. From a health research perspective, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness gives partner countries a unique voice to call for health research programmes to be focused on their populations’ specific needs. |
‘AHA’: better evidence for decisions on donor support of health research
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There has been much discussion in global health circles of how health research investments can be better focused on the needs of recipient countries, but little data is available on the strategies and impact in the health research domain. The AHA initiative hopes to improve our understanding of the potentials and limitations of ‘harmonising’ and ‘aligning’ the external support by donors, development agencies and research sponsoring institutions. This is the first attempt to quantify the alignment and harmonization aspects of health research in a number of low income countries. It is also a first step toward having real evidence as a basis for donors and their partner countries to develop shared health research agendas.
To share the results of the AHA study and discuss possible implications, COHRED, jointly with Sida / SAREC, convened a special consultation with representatives from the eight donor countries, two research sponsoring organisations (National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust) and the five African countries (both from government, research institutions and NGOs). The ‘AHA initiative’ – builds on the AHA study to continue to create better understanding of the application of alignment and harmonization in the field of health research and a platform for ongoing debate, for collection of evidence, and – where possible – for defining best practice. |
Countries and donors discuss better coordination of health research funding
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The AHA special consultation in Beijing in October 2007 was convened by COHRED. Consultation participants included senior representatives of donor agencies and health research policy makers from five African countries, who discussed this topic for the first time:
 Uganda; Global Health Research;University of Galway; Development (ZonMW); Health. |