To know where you are going, monitor progress, and get to the goal safely. In many countries there is a bewildering array of research and development activities. Health development and research efforts have often been fragmented or uncoordinated at the national level.

Effective governance and management of the research for health system:

• Provides strategic vision
• Allows system to work in coordinated way
• Builds synergies
• Develops and implements policies
• Facilitates better use of resources
• Drives better use of research results
• Ensures effective monitoring and evaluation of research for health

Models of research system governance

There is no uniform prescription for governing country research for health systems.

Although there are evolving international standards for effective government, “governance” is almost always context specific. Models of research system governance differ from country to country. These can be councils, committees or commissions that deal with all fields of research, termed general structures, those that deal with health or medical research specifically, health structures, and models in which a number of bodies play a role, multiple structures.

Governance of research and innovation for health is integral at every level as it provides the strategic vision and stewardship for key functions in the system, such as defining research for health priorities and establishing research for health policies. Refer to the NR4HS development framework to see how to implement it in practice.