Paper: Soviet legacy is still pervasive in health policy and systems research in the post-Soviet states

On November 10, 2021, Public Health  Research and Practice published the paper entitled “Soviet legacy is still pervasive in health policy and systems research in the post-Soviet states” authored by Dr. George Gotsadze and Dr. Akaki Zoidze both representing Curatio International Foundation and School of Natural Sciences and Medicine at the Ilia State University.

An objective of the publication is to examine how health policy and systems research (HPSR) is produced and funded in 14 post-Soviet states to inform possible strategies to improve the supply and quality of research and advance evidence-based health policymaking in these states using the mixed methods.

In all studied countries, except the Baltic states, funding levels for HPSR remain inadequate. Most research and development funding is allocated to fundamental sciences and biomedical research – fields with more influential long-standing institutional legacies. The low volume and poor quality of published HPSR research appear to be adversely affecting the credibility of researchers in this field in the eyes of critical beneficiaries – policymakers, who do not prioritize and advocate for funding of HPSR.

HPSR funding in most post-Soviet countries is caught in a vicious cycle of inadequate funding and poor quality. International collaborative projects focused on post-Soviet states and involving science funders, academic institutions, and researchers from those countries may help strengthen HPSR capacity, improve research quality and help boost priority funding and the credibility of researchers in this field.

See the full paper here. 

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