HIFA Country Representative Soumyadeep Bhaumick presented a poster on 'Understanding Implementation Research: Case study from the HIFA virtual discussion forum' at the Global Evidence Summit in Cape Town, 13-16 September 2017, on behalf of the HIFA Working Group on Evidence-Informed Policy & Practice.
The three main themes, as described by HIFA members, are:
1. There is confusion about IR, particularly in relation to similar approaches like quality improvement, operational research, knowledge translation and health-services research.
“Like the proverbial 7 blind men attempting to describe an elephant, a universal definition of IR appears elusive!”
-Global Health Professional, Switzerland
2. IR provides an opportunity to better understand the health system and policy perspective.
3. Difficulty in locating implementation research articles for policy making, program planning and research is a challenge.
The poster concludes: The proliferation of multiple terminologies based on epistemological and ontological variations are confusing for not only frontline health workers but also for those in the academia. This confusion may be limiting academic, political and financial commitment to IR and needs to be addressed as a priority.
