Promoting operational research through fellowships: a case study from the South-East Asia Union Office

Operational research within the national tuberculosis control programme in Benin

“…It is only in the last 5 years that a part-time OR fellow has been placed within the NTP in Benin. This has facilitated implementation and completion of relevant OR projects that have benefited the NTP; What has been achieved is in line with experience gained in Malawi, Central Africa, and in India [ 2 , 9 ]. While some projects contributed to changes in programme practice, others provided useful information for programme planning and evaluation.…”

The effects of placing an operational research fellow within the Viet Nam National Tuberculosis Programme

“…These findings are similar to experiences in India, and testify to a growing belief in the value of the OR fellowship model promoted and implemented by The Union in Asia and Africa. 2 Over three quarters of the published papers on which the OR fellow was co-author contributed to changes in policy and practice, and many of these studies also added to the evidence base for planning within the NTP. This uptake of research is slightly higher than that observed from the OR capacity building SORT IT courses, where 74% of 88 studies and 55% of 81 studies were assessed as making a difference to policy and practice, respectively.…”

“…1,2 During the routine implementation of programme activities, many challenges arise that can be identified and resolved through OR with the aim of increasing efficiencies in health service delivery and improving health outcomes. 1,3,4 In the recently launched World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy, Pillar Three explicitly states the need for research to optimise implementation and impact.…”

“…The terms of reference included an obligation to submit at least two papers per annum to peer-reviewed journals. 2,7 Six years later, we describe the output of OR conducted and published by the OR fellow in conjunction with the NTP and NTP colleagues, and outline how the research informed changes in policy and practice and improved programme performance.…”

How Can Operational Research Help to Eliminate Tuberculosis in the Asia Pacific Region?

“…The next most important step is to appoint a skilled operational research officer to lead and coordinate the research endeavour. As described earlier, the appointment of one operational research officer within the NTP in Benin and Vietnam was successful in generating national, good quality, relevant research [10,11], but building a critical mass of two or more research officers within an institution can help to foster an institutional culture of research and result in significant scale up of research projects and publications [71].…”