How Can the Operating Environment for Nutrition Research Be Improved in Sub-Saharan Africa? The Views of African Researchers

PLoS One

Dominique Roberfroid¹  Michelle Holdsworth²  Kathleen Van Royen²  Eunice Nago³  Patrick Kolsteren⁴  Joyce Kinabo⁵  Carl Lachat⁶  Karlien Smit⁶  Christopher Garimoi Orach⁶ 

[1]Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

[2]Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

[3]Department of Food Science and Technology, Sokoine University, Morogoro, Tanzania

[4]Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Benin

[5]ScHARR- Section of Public Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

[6]Unit of Nutrition and Child Health, Institute for Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

关键词: Nutrition;    Africa;    Science policy;    Research validity;    Finance;    Government funding of science;    Research funding;    Research assessment;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0066355

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Optimal nutrition is critical for human development and economic growth. Sub-Saharan Africa is facing high levels of food insecurity and only few sub-Saharan African countries are on track to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. Effective research capacity is crucial for addressing emerging challenges and designing appropriate mitigation strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. A clear understanding of the operating environment for nutrition research in sub-Saharan Africa is a much needed prerequisite. We collected data on the barriers and requirements for conducting nutrition research in sub-Saharan Africa through semi-structured interviews with 144 participants involved in nutrition research in 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 133 interviews were retained for coding. The main barriers identified for effective nutrition research were the lack of funding due to poor recognition by policymakers of the importance of nutrition research and under-utilisation of research findings for developing policy, as well as an absence of research priority setting from within Africa. Current research topics were perceived to be mainly determined by funding bodies from outside Africa. Nutrition researchers argued for more commitment from policymakers at national level. The low capacity for nutrition research was mainly seen as a consequence of insufficient numbers of nutrition researchers, limited skills and a poor research infrastructure. In conclusion, African nutrition researchers argued how research priorities need to be identified by African stakeholders, accompanied by consensus building to enable creating a problem-driven national research agenda. In addition, it was considered necessary to promote interactions among researchers, and between researchers and policymakers. Multidisciplinary research and international and cross-African collaboration were seen as crucial to build capacity in sub-Saharan nutrition research.

【 授权许可】

CC BY