Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis
Regional bodies can potentially play an important role in improving health research in Africa. This study analyses the network of African state-based regional organisations for health research and assesses their potential relationship with national health research performance metrics. After catalogu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLOS Global Public Health |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022136/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1797695326066311168 |
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| author | Aaron Hedquist Catherine M. Jones Rhona M. Mijumbi Joëlle Sobngwi-Tambekou Justin Parkhurst Clare Wenham |
| author_facet | Aaron Hedquist Catherine M. Jones Rhona M. Mijumbi Joëlle Sobngwi-Tambekou Justin Parkhurst Clare Wenham |
| author_sort | Aaron Hedquist |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Regional bodies can potentially play an important role in improving health research in Africa. This study analyses the network of African state-based regional organisations for health research and assesses their potential relationship with national health research performance metrics. After cataloguing organisations and their membership, we conducted a social network analysis to determine key network attributes of national governments’ connections via regional organisations supporting functions of health research systems. This data was used to test the hypothesis that state actors with more connections to other actors via regional organisations would have higher levels of health research performance across indicators. With 21 unique regional organisations, the African continent is densely networked around health research systems issues. In general, the regional network for health research is inclusive. No single actor serves as a nexus. However, when statistics are grouped by African Union regions, influential poles emerge, with the most predominate spheres of influence in Eastern and Western Africa. Further, when connectivity data was analysed against national health research performance, there were no statistically significant relationships between increased connectivity and higher performance of key health research metrics. The inclusive and dense network dynamics of African regional organisations for health research strengthening present key opportunities for knowledge diffusion and cooperation to improve research capacity on the continent. Further reflection is needed on appropriate and meaningful ways to assess the role of regionalism and evaluate the influence of regional organisations in strengthening health research systems in Africa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:09:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fbb818f78f2e4808a3ba6c100b2ed7e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2767-3375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:09:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLOS Global Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-fbb818f78f2e4808a3ba6c100b2ed7e42023-09-03T14:28:59ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLOS Global Public Health2767-33752022-01-01210Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysisAaron HedquistCatherine M. JonesRhona M. MijumbiJoëlle Sobngwi-TambekouJustin ParkhurstClare WenhamRegional bodies can potentially play an important role in improving health research in Africa. This study analyses the network of African state-based regional organisations for health research and assesses their potential relationship with national health research performance metrics. After cataloguing organisations and their membership, we conducted a social network analysis to determine key network attributes of national governments’ connections via regional organisations supporting functions of health research systems. This data was used to test the hypothesis that state actors with more connections to other actors via regional organisations would have higher levels of health research performance across indicators. With 21 unique regional organisations, the African continent is densely networked around health research systems issues. In general, the regional network for health research is inclusive. No single actor serves as a nexus. However, when statistics are grouped by African Union regions, influential poles emerge, with the most predominate spheres of influence in Eastern and Western Africa. Further, when connectivity data was analysed against national health research performance, there were no statistically significant relationships between increased connectivity and higher performance of key health research metrics. The inclusive and dense network dynamics of African regional organisations for health research strengthening present key opportunities for knowledge diffusion and cooperation to improve research capacity on the continent. Further reflection is needed on appropriate and meaningful ways to assess the role of regionalism and evaluate the influence of regional organisations in strengthening health research systems in Africa.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022136/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Aaron Hedquist Catherine M. Jones Rhona M. Mijumbi Joëlle Sobngwi-Tambekou Justin Parkhurst Clare Wenham Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis PLOS Global Public Health |
| title | Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis |
| title_full | Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis |
| title_fullStr | Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis |
| title_short | Mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in Africa: A social network analysis |
| title_sort | mapping regional cooperation of state actors for health research systems in africa a social network analysis |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022136/?tool=EBI |
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