The objective of this paper is to present the situational status of the National Health Research System of Peru (NHRS), the lessons learnt during the building process, the opportunities to improve it and the challenges. A description of the functions of the peruvian NHRS is done, in relation to governance, legal framework, research priorities, funding, creation and sustainability of resources and research production and utilization. It describes that in Peru we excert governance in research, we count with regulations, policy and research priorities, these last developed in the framework of a participatory, inclusive process. The conclusion reached is that the challenges of the peruvian NHRS are to consolidate the governance and to develop the mechanisms to articulate the stakeholders involved in research, to improve the resources allocation for research and innovation, to elaborate a plan for the development of human resources dedicated to research, to develop institutions and regional competences in order to perform research, and to link research in order to solve problems and make national research policies sustainable.

Peru has performed many efforts to identify national health research priorities since 1974 through processes historically planned based on expert opinions, with little impact. It was decided to generate a change in the management of research in order to overcome the weaknesses of the previous processes, applying a methodology with a participative and decentralized approach. In order to establish the regional and national research priorities of the key stakeholders, the Instituto Nacional de Salud (Peru) developed a process of citizenship consult through three phases i) advocacy and workshops in 20 regions; ii) a workshop for the analysis of the Concerted National Health Plan with 200 experts in Lima; iii) the national forum, with 500 representatives in 50 working tables. The research priorities of Peru for the period 2010- 2014 are: research to recognize the problems of health human resources, to recognize the mental health problems, impact evaluations of the social programs for reduction of children malnutrition, impact evaluation of social programs of the actual interventions in maternal mortality and operative research and impact evaluation of interventions in communicable diseases.

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El Perú realizó varios esfuerzos por identificar prioridades nacionales de investigación en salud desde 1974 mediante procesos históricamente planificados con base en opiniones de expertos, con escaso impacto. Se decidió generar cambio en la gestión de la investigación para revertir las debilidades de los procesos anteriores, aplicando una metodología con enfoque participativo y descentralista. Para establecer prioridades regionales y nacionales de investigación enfocadas en los problemas sanitarios del país y promover el compromiso y participación de los actores clave, el Instituto Nacional de Salud desarrolló un proceso de consulta ciudadana en tres fases i) abogacía y talleres en 20 regiones; ii) un taller de análisis del Plan Nacional Concertado de Salud con 200 expertos en Lima; iii) el foro nacional, con 500 representantes en 50 mesas de trabajo. Las prioridades de investigación para el Perú en el periodo 2010-2014 son: investigaciones para conocer los problemas de los recursos humanos en salud y los problemas de salud mental; investigaciones para evaluar el impacto de los programas sociales en reducción de la desnutrición infantil, las intervenciones actuales en mortalidad materna e intervenciones en las enfermedades transmisibles; finalmente, investigaciones operativas en enfermedades transmisibles.

The National Health Authority of Peru, as part of the implementation of national priorities for health research in 2010 developed the process of building the national research agenda on health manpower (HM). In a scenario of technical challenges, national and international policy and under a nation-wide participatory approach with key stakeholders in the health system, training and aid HM linked to the subject, establishing a socially agreed agenda. Process consists of 3 phases: 1. National review of evidence and relevant information on RHUS, 2. Consultation with opinion leaders and subject experts, and 3. A collaborative space (national workshop) of deliberation, consensus and legitimacy of the agenda. Finally, we present the agenda consists of 30 research topics on health manpower, to be developed in the period 2011- 2014, and raises the challenges and prospects for implementation.