The need for research evidence to meet health workforce challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Biomedical and health research geography in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…Egypt witnessed socio-political instabilities similar to those that took place in Tunisia, yet the impact of such 3 Global Health Observatory (2018), 4 The World Bank (2018), 5 Webometrics (2018) , 6 This study, 7 The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (2018) Research article conditions on biomedical and health research output in the country was not substantial (Figure 1.c). Future investigations are needed to explore the factors that "protect" research activities in certain countries and try to transfer this knowledge to "immunize" the fragility of research activities in vulnerable countries.…”

“…Moreover, health related research is unevenly distributed in the Region (3), although a comprehensive picture is lacking. While the World Health Organization (WHO), and related global health policy assemblies, emphasize the importance of linking research evidence to policy-making and building research capacity (4), limited academic output from the Region may reduce the relevance of research evidence to regional priorities (5,6). Unfortunately, limited success has been achieved in the EMR in adopting and prioritizing national health research agendas, or to systematically map research output in health and related biomedical domains (7,8).…”

Achieving “Health for All by All” in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region occupies an exceptional place in the world; not only is it home to over 600 million people and some of the oldest civilizations recorded, it is also unfortunately suffering an unprecedented number of natural and man-made disasters and social conflicts. Regional conflict has led to a multitude of humanitarian crises including displaced populations, trans-border refugee movements, destruction of medical facilities and reduced availability of essential health-care workers (1). In addition, natural disasters in the form of extreme weather events, as witnessed by the unprecedented flooding in the Islamic Republic of Iran, had the World Bank declaring that the Region is among the most vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels, with Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates particularly at risk (2,3).…”

Health Care Challenges in Pakistan

“…It necessitates to put emphasis on recruitment, training, deployment and management of health workforce all over the world. 3 In Pakistan, competence and productivity of health workers is questionable as only a few medical schools are providing quality education and training. Health care workers have very less incomes and are forced to do double jobs affecting service delivery.…”