Innovative proposals are sought from across the public health, social and biomedical sciences to the seventh annual call for the Health Systems Research Initiative. Up to £4.7 million is available for funding foundation and full proposals under this call.
The Department for International Development (DFID), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome jointly fund this call in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). All funders are committed to funding world-class research with high potential for impact on policy and practice.
Launched in 2013, this programme will generate world-class and cutting-edge research that addresses key questions on strengthening and improving health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Following an excellent response to this programme from the research community, funding has now been secured for an annual call under this initiative until 2021.
The programme’s aims are to fund methodologically rigorous, high-quality interdisciplinary research that will:
- generate evidence on:
- the structure and dynamics of health systems
- how to strengthen and improve health systems for people living in LMICs through the delivery of evidence-based interventions or structural changes (for example strengthening the health workforce or drug supply)
- provide evidence that is of direct relevance to decision makers and practitioners in the field, linking health systems with defined outcomes (e.g. health, confidence, financial protection
- demonstrate an appreciation of current theories and frameworks in health systems research
- where focussed on a particular aspect of the health system, proposals must demonstrate how interventions relate to and affect wider elements of the system such as governance, financing, health workforce, information systems, service delivery, etc.