Strengthening health systems through embedded research

Realizing the health-related sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires integrated action on system-wide challenges. To address gaps in health service delivery, we need evidence on which government agencies, research institutions, donors and civil society can act. 1 Unless research is relevant to specific health systems, the evidence that it generates can be dismissed by policy-makers. 2 For example, there is plenty of evidence for the effectiveness of standard interventions to prevent maternal and child deaths, but countries vary widely in the degree to which these interventions have been implemented. e argue that embedding of research in real world policy, practice and implementation is needed to strengthen health systems worldwide. Embedded research conducted in partnership with policymakers and implementers, integrated in different health system settings and that takes into account context-specific factors can ensure greater relevance in policy priority-setting and decision-making. ollaboration between researchers, implementers and policy-makers has been shown to improve uptake of health systems research. 5 However, in many places, prioritization and conduct of research is often done solely by academics. ealth research is also largely focused on biomedical and clinical interventions, while health systems and implementation research remains underfunded globally. ften, knowledge translation is an add-on activity after the completion of research projects.