News
The Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare and Innovation participated in the Malawi Health Strategic 2021-2030 launch at the Bingu International Conference on 25 August 2022. The Ministry of Health launched the event, which was attended by the deputy minister of Health, Hon. Halima Daudi. The lunch was also attended by other organisations and stakeholders who welcomed the publication of the strategic plan.
This is the first Strategic Plan that the Research Division (RD) in the Ministry of Health (MOH) has developed for 2021-2030. The Plan aligns with the Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP 2020-2030). It lays a foundation for how the Division intends to achieve its objectives and strategic outcomes as desired results. The Plan outlines the vision and mission that will provide impetus for achieving tangible results. Critical and valuable lessons were learned from other planning frameworks in the Ministry and other cooperating partners, which have been incorporated into this Plan. The development of this Plan results from a consultative and participatory process that brought together key informants and stakeholders of the RD, including members of staff in the Department and at the ministerial level, research institutions, and academia, including the CEBHCI.
In his statement, the Director for CEBHCI noted that this was a critical development that would encourage stakeholders to work more with the Ministry of Health on important issues in health research.
The publication of this strategic plan means that organisations such as ours can work with the government knowing which areas to concentrate on, and not only that but also evaluate any progress made consistently.
The Strategic Plan is also aligned with the Malawi Vision 2063 (MW2063) and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III (MGDS III) 2017-2022 as a Government of Malawi medium-term Development Agenda that is the current blueprint for the country. The Strategic Plan focuses on Research Leadership and Governance, Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening, Knowledge Management, and Health Research Financing. Identifying these key focus areas(KFA’s) from the National Health Research Policy(NHRP) has enabled the RD to determine and focus the implementation of institutional programs. The human resource capacity is at the heart of the Strategic Plan, which is critical for generating vital health research information for decision-makers. In this regard, the RD shall ensure that it has an adequate and skilled pool of health researchers to coordinate research activities in the country effectively.
The successful implementation of this Strategic Plan will largely hinge on transformative leadership from top and senior management to nurture a motivated workforce. It also requires commitment from those in leadership at all levels and will succeed only if that is pursued.