Warm greetings to all and a very good morning to Her Excellency, the Hon’ble President, Mrs Bidhya Devi Bhandari; His Excellency, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. KP Sharma Oli; His Excellency, the Hon’ble Minister for Health and Population, Mr Krishna Gopal Shrestha; the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Lumbini Province, Mr Shankar Pokharel; and the Hon’ble Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population, Mr Laxman Aryal.
My sincere thanks to Dr Pradip Gyawali, Executive Chief of the Nepal National Health Research Council, for the opportunity to deliver this keynote address.
This innovative and high-level event is a credit to your efforts, and to the commitment of the Ministry of Health and Population and Government of Nepal to implement evidence-based policy that drives real impact in the lives of the most vulnerable.
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 response, and in the recovery from the crisis, such policy will be critical to fulfilling the Region’s “Sustain. Accelerate. Innovative” vision, and to achieving our Flagship Priorities and the Sustainable Development Goal targets.
For five consecutive weeks, Nepal has recorded a decline in COVID-19 cases – last week, a 38% decline.
I commend the efforts of all responders, who continue to go above and beyond the call of duty. And I congratulate the people of Nepal, who since the beginning of the response, have adhered to public health and social measures and supported one another to stay safe, healthy and well.
You can be certain of WHO’s steadfast support in all aspects of the response, including on the issue to which we are gathered to address: research in public health emergencies – specifically, research by health and population scientists.
We have heard a lot about regional and global triumphs in vaccine research, and in research on diagnostics, therapeutics and other areas of WHO’s Global R&D Roadmap. Such triumphs have been truly remarkable.
But equally remarkable have been the contributions of health and population scientists, including in Nepal. I commend you all.
Throughout the COVID-19 response, health and population scientists have shared experiences and apprised policy makers of best practices, not only for combatting COVID-19, but also maintaining essential health services and adapting programmatic interventions in other areas of health – both key priorities in our Region.
Embedded and operational research in particular can efficiently link research and policy decisions, providing rapid solutions to a range of pressing issues, from health financing bottlenecks, to medicines dispensing, service delivery and bed availability.
Through WHO’s science division, we are identifying projects that use embedded research methodologies to answer policy questions in primary care and then linking them to emergency response.
I understand that these and other methodologies and tools have had significant impact in Nepal, enabling public health authorities at the federal, state and local level to act in unison and make rapid decisions based on the best available evidence.
I urge you to maintain momentum, and to leverage the full power of health and population research – including embedded and operational research – to strengthen the response, build health system resilience, enhance emergency preparedness and response capacities, and achieve full compliance with the International Health Regulations – exactly as you are gathered to do.
Today, I have three messages, each of them critical to conducting high-impact, high-quality health and population research.
First, identify clear and coherent priorities. Many questions may be asked, but not all of them are equally urgent, nor will all of them advance health equity and address the most vulnerable first.
This is especially true in public health emergencies, where time is of the essence, and must be allocated based on whose needs are most pressing. But it is equally true in steady state scenarios, and I encourage you to prioritize accordingly.
Second, apply consistent and transparent standards and ensure rigour in case study quality, data collection and analysis.
In emergencies, this can be difficult. But as much as possible, researchers must identify and apply the most appropriate study designs, the best methods of data collection, and the most insightful processes of analysis and interpretation.
Throughout the recovery, I encourage all researchers to access the WHO reader on Health Policy and Systems Research, which provides end-to-end guidance on all aspects of policy research design and implementation.
Third, define how best to translate evidence into action, which I am delighted is the theme of this seventh National Summit.
In the Region and across the world, research too often fails to inform policy and practice because it does not respond to policy needs, or because it is poorly communicated to policy makers.
Deliberative forums such as this are critical to overcoming these and other barriers, and to stimulating context-specific and evidence-informed action at all levels.
I look very much forward to hearing of your deliberations, and encourage you to remain closely networked, ensuring that research priorities are aligned with and can inform emergency response and health system priorities.
In these and all other endeavours, Nepal can be certain of WHO’s ongoing, unmitigated support – to build health system resilience, to prepare for and prevent future emergencies, and to create a fairer and healthier Region and world.
Thank you.