The role of HIV research in building health system capacity in developing countries.
OBJECTIVE
There is growing recognition that greater investment in research is needed to expand our knowledge and understanding of how to scale up HIV programmes effectively and equitably in the context of weak health systems. Current debates acknowledge that there remains a gap in evidence on how HIV resources can best be managed to contribute to building health system capacity; how to integrate HIV interventions into primary healthcare systems; and how HIV scale-up is affecting other disease programmes.


RESULTS
Findings suggest that global health initiatives, including HIV/AIDS programmes, should allocate a set portion of funding for research and knowledge generation in improving health system performance. Forms of HIV research with potential for building health system capacity in developing countries include clinical research, implementation and operations research, quality improvement research, economic evaluation and cost-effectiveness, HIV surveillance and population-based surveys, and monitoring and evaluation.


CONCLUSIONS
In this review, we present an overview of the imperative for HIV research in building health system capacity, provide examples of current trends and the forms of research with potential for enhancing health system performance, and highlight priorities for enhancing the role of HIV research in building health system capacity.
Global HIV/AIDS Program of the World Bank Human Development Network, World Bank, Washington DC, USA.
Debrework
D
Zewdie
Pedro
P
Cahn
Craig
C
McClure
Jacqueline
J
Bataringaya