Global Symposium on Health Systems Research
Montreux, Switzerland  16-19 November 2010

The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research - An international collaboration based in WHO Geneva
Website: http://www.hsr-symposium.org/
Call for abstracts: Science to Accelerate Universal Health CoverageDeadline: 30 April 2010

“….To share evidence, identify significant knowledge gaps, and set a research agenda that reflects the needs of low and middle-income countries.

The symposium will be dedicated to improving the scientific evidence needed by health policy-makers and practitioners to inform their decisions related to accelerating universal health coverage.

Achieving and sustaining universal health coverage requires attention to a broad range of issues that are central to health systems performance.
This includes drawing on the six interdependent health system building blocks
– finance, workforce, services, technologies, information, and governance –
and understandinghow policies and programmes from within and beyond the health sector can be developed and implemented effectively, efficiently, and equitably.

Although universal health coverage is highly country and context specific, rigorous scientific research has the potential to generate evidence to inform better policy and practice within and across countries. For example, robust methodologies could be instrumental in identifying how the services for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, immunization and maternal and child health can be scaled up to reach the poor and disadvantaged more quickly and sustainably in low-income countries.

Similarly, prospective monitoring and evaluation of universal health coverage policies in middle-income countries can help to better target the vulnerable populations and make important mid-course corrections.
The specific objectives of the symposium are to:   

• share state-of-the art research on universal health coverage;
• develop a global agenda of priority research on accelerating progress towards universal health coverage;
• facilitate greater research collaboration and learning communities across disciplines, sectors, initiatives and countries;
• strengthen the scientific rigor of the field of health systems research including concepts, frameworks, measures and methods;
• identify mechanisms for strengthening capacities – individual, institutional and infrastructural
   – for research on health systems particularly in low- and middle-income countries.