ICDDR,B. Knowledge for global lifesaving solutions.

Knowledge Translation in Maternal Health: Culture and Capacity for Change

About

Through Knowledge Translation in Maternal Health: Culture and Capacity for Change, ICDDR,B wants to partner with the Maternal Health Task Force to empower researchers and non-researchers of diverse backgrounds and focus to work together and achieve evidence-based change for better maternal health in Bangladesh. Strategic planning in health on the national level in Bangladesh makes this a critical time for policymaking in maternal health. Simultaneously, proposed restructuring of the research institution at ICDDR,B and redesign of its systems of research and researcher evaluation make this a crucial time to enhance institutional capacity for and valuation of knowledge translation. Accordingly, Knowledge Translation in Maternal Health: Culture and Capacity for Change aims to create spaces for productive dialogue between researchers and non-researchers and early engagement to facilitate evidence-based planning for evidence-based change in maternal health, while simultaneously working to empower ICDDR,B’s individual researchers with knowledge translation skills sets and to enable the institution as a whole to maintain sustainable focus on knowledge translation.

Research Areas

Knowledge Translation:

Knowledge translation is a dynamic and iterative process that includes the synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge to improve health, provide more effective health services and products, and strengthen the health care system. This process takes place within a complex system of interactions between researchers and knowledge users which may vary in intensity, complexity and level of engagement depending on the nature of the research and the findings as well as the needs of the particular knowledge user. Strategies for knowledge translation may vary according to the target audience (e.g., researchers, clinicians, policy-makers, the public) and the type of knowledge being translated (i.e., clinical, biomedical or policy-related).

Knowledge translation has just been unveiled as a primary goal of ICDDR,B’s Strategic Plan 2020. The organization is undertaking a formal restructuring process and engaging in organization-wide dialogues to redesign the evaluation of its own research and researchers. By engaging in these dialogues now and by modeling a system for knowledge translation evaluation, the ‘Knowledge Translation in Maternal Health: Culture and Capacity for Change’ project has the potential to add great sustainability to knowledge translation efforts.

Evidence Base:

This is an information resource and consists of evidence briefing papers and evidence reviews across a range of topics that provide an account of the state of the evidence, identify gaps in the research base and make recommendations for future research. Reports, publications, presentations from the studies conducted under Reproductive Health Unit of ICDDR,B during last 12 years will be available in this repository.

Topics include:

• HR Issues/ Capacity building/ Task Shifting
• Community Based Service Delivery/ Evaluation and Assessment
• Facility Strengthening/ Service Delivery
• Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
• Situation Analysis/ Evaluation/ Cost analysis
• Health systems research on maternal Health

• STI and HIV-AIDS

Training materials:

Evidence indicates that researcher unfamiliarity with policy processes and presentation strategy is a significant barrier to knowledge translation. Targeted training can empower researchers to enhance knowledge translation at any point in their career. ICDDR,B currently runs a course in scientific writing for its researchers. Through literature review of best practices in communication for knowledge translation, this project has developed course manuals and materials for the course ‘High Impact Writing for Evidence-Based Change’. The course will teach researchers to create ‘Knowledge Translation Briefs’ and its content will focus on mechanisms and techniques of writing. The course will be offered in series of bi-weekly trainings, held at rotating times scheduled for maximum attendance. This course will facilitate researcher participation in construction of the Maternal Health Knowledge Translation Briefcase in the short term, and will facilitate their success in evidence to policy translation in the long term.

Government documents:

These are a selection of important and relevant documents published at different times from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.