Effective engagement and involvement with community stakeholders in the co-production of global health research

Abstract

Doreen Tembo and colleagues argue that small changes as well as larger system-wide changes can strengthen citizens’ contribution to knowledge in health research

Rethinking research processes to strengthen co-production in low and middle income countries

“…20 Furthermore, co-production itself can be seen as a tool for empowerment and partnerships, 5 with funders having a role in promoting equitable partnerships. 21 Increasing evidence and uptake Some validated approaches and guidelines to help direct and apply co-production processes already exist. 16 The UK's National Institute for Health Research 3 provides five principles: "Sharing power, including all perspectives and skills, respecting and valuing the knowledge of all those working together on the research, reciprocity, and building and maintaining relationships."…”

Beyond command and control: A rapid review of meaningful community-engaged responses to COVID-19

“…Public health decisions require evidence from a range of disciplines, sciences, experiences and perspectives from all levels, including from communities, using reflexive methods for learning from action and co-production of new knowledge. This is particularly important for the adaptive learning needed in a new pandemic (Loewenson et al, 2020a;Tembo et al, 2021), In this paper we provide, through a rapid global review of 42 case studies, evidence on diverse forms of substantive community engagement in the response to COVID-19, highlighting the factors that enable or disable these responses. We explore the learning from these experiences for opportunities to take advantage of the ruptures of this moment to refashion new forms of self-determination, participation and comprehensive public health, where those affected are subjects and partners in and not objects of responses.…”

COVID-19 and patient engagement in health research: What have we learned?

“…4 In recent years patient engagement has assumed an increasingly prominent place on the agendas of many national health care and research systems. Patient and public involvement in research has evolved into a global movement, with increasingly strong community engagement research in the Global South, 5 and some countries -such as the United Kingdom, Canada and I reland -going so far as to establish publicly funded infrastructure to support its development. In 2019, more than 250 organizations and individuals -from Australia to Zimbabwe -joined the first ever global network to strengthen patient engagement around the world.…”