Setting research priorities for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries

Setting research priorities for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries

Blog Article

OBJECTIVE: To conduct an expert-led process for identifying research priorities in adolescent sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries.METHODS: The authors modified the priority-setting method of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) to obtain input from nearly 300 researchers, health programme managers and donors with wide-ranging backgrounds and experiences and from all geographic regions.In a three-Phase process, they asked these experts to: (i) rank outcome areas in order of importance; (ii) formulate research questions within Polos each area, and (iii) rank the formulated questions.

FINDINGS: Seven areas of adolescent sexual and reproductive health were identified as important: (i) maternal health; (ii) contraception; (iii) gender-based violence; (iv) treatment and care of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; (v) abortion; (vi) integration of family planning and HIV-related services and (vii) sexually transmitted infections.Experts generated from 30 to 40 research questions in each area, and to prioritize these questions, they applied five criteria focused on: clarity, answerability, impact, implementation and relevance for equity.Rankings were based on overall mean scores derived by averaging the scores for individual criteria.

Experts agreed strongly on the relative importance of the questions in L-Citrulline each area.CONCLUSION: Research questions on the prevalence of conditions affecting adolescents are giving way to research questions on the scale-up of existing interventions and the development of new ones.CHNRI methods can be used by donors and health programme managers to prioritize research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.