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. 2017 May;145(5):611-622.
doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_139_17.

Research priorities in Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health & Nutrition for India: An Indian Council of Medical Research-INCLEN Initiative

Narendra K Arora  1 , Soumya Swaminathan  2 , Archisman Mohapatra  1 , Hema S Gopalan  1 , Vishwa M Katoch  2 , Maharaj K Bhan  3 , Reeta Rasaily  2 , Chander Shekhar  2 , Vasantha Thavaraj  2 , Malabika Roy  2 , Manoja K Das  1 , Kerri Wazny  4 , Rakesh Kumar  2 , Ajay Khera  5 , Neerja Bhatla  6 , Vanita Jain  7 , Avula Laxmaiah  8 , M K C Nair  9 , Vinod K Paul  10 , Prema Ramachandran  11 , Siddharth Ramji  12 , Umesh Vaidya  13 , I C Verma  14 , Dheeraj Shah  15 , Rajiv Bahl  16 , Shamim Qazi  16 , Igor Rudan  4 , Robert E Black  17 ; ICMR INCLEN Research Priority Setting Network; National Steering Group; Research Sub-Committee; Nation-wide Network
Collaborators, Affiliations

Research priorities in Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health & Nutrition for India: An Indian Council of Medical Research-INCLEN Initiative

Narendra K Arora et al. Indian J Med Res. 2017 May.

Abstract

In India, research prioritization in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) themes has traditionally involved only a handful of experts mostly from major cities. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-INCLEN collaboration undertook a nationwide exercise engaging faculty from 256 institutions to identify top research priorities in the MNCHN themes for 2016-2025. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method of priority setting was adapted. The context of the exercise was defined by a National Steering Group (NSG) and guided by four Thematic Research Subcommittees. Research ideas were pooled from 498 experts located in different parts of India, iteratively consolidated into research options, scored by 893 experts against five pre-defined criteria (answerability, relevance, equity, investment and innovation) and weighed by a larger reference group. Ranked lists of priorities were generated for each of the four themes at national and three subnational (regional) levels [Empowered Action Group & North-Eastern States, Southern and Western States, & Northern States (including West Bengal)]. Research priorities differed between regions and from overall national priorities. Delivery domain of research which included implementation research constituted about 70 per cent of the top ten research options under all four themes. The results were endorsed in the NSG meeting. There was unanimity that the research priorities should be considered by different governmental and non-governmental agencies for investment with prioritization on implementation research and issues cutting across themes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Geographical context of the ICMR-INCLEN National Research Priority Setting Exercise for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition (2016-2025) (Map courtesy: www.mapsofindia.com modified with permission).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of the research options in maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition themes across the four domains of research.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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