title: Health Research and Millennium Development Goals: Identifying the Gap From Public Health Perspective.
abstract: Assessing the research output within the universities could provide an effective means for tracking the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) progress. This analytical database study was designed to assess the trend of research theses conducted by the Public Health Department (PHD), Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University during the period 1990 to 2014 as related to the: MDGS, Faculty and department research priority plans and to identify the discrepancies between researchers' priorities versus national and international research priorities. A manual search of the theses was done at the Postgraduate Library using a specially designed checklist to chart adherence of each thesis to: MDGs, Faculty and department research plans (RPs). The theses' profile showed that the highest research output was for addressing the MDGS followed by the PHD and Faculty RPs. Compliance to MDGs 5 and 6 was obvious, whereas; MDGs 2, 3, and 7 were not represented at all after year 2000. No significant difference was found between PH theses addressing the Faculty RPs and those which were not before and after 2010. A significantly lower percent of PH theses was fulfilling the PHD research priorities compared to those which were not after 2010. This study showed a definite decline in research output tackling the MDGS and PHD research priorities, with a non-significant increase in the production of theses addressing the Faculty RPs. The present study is a practical model for policy makers within the universities to develop and implement a reliable monitoring and evaluation system for assessment of research output.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. monaellawindi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mona I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: El Lawindi
authors.forename: Yasmine S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Galal
authors.forename: Walaa A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Khairy
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000458:organization & administration; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004534:Egypt; D004782:Environmental Health; D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D011634:Public Health; D012106:Research / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000458:organization & administration; D014495:Universities