Research Translation to Promote Urban Health in Latin America: The SALURBAL Experience

Abstract

In highly urbanized and unequal Latin America, urban health and health equity research are essential to effective policymaking. To ensure the application of relevant and context-specific evidence to efforts to reduce urban health inequities, urban health research in Latin America must incorporate strategic research translation efforts. Beginning in 2017, the Urban Health in Latin America (SALURBAL) project implemented policy-relevant research and engaged policymakers and the public to support the translation of research findings. Over 6 years, more than 200 researchers across eight countries contributed to SALURBAL's interdisciplinary network. This network allowed SALURBAL to adapt research and engagement activities to local contexts and priorities, thereby maximizing the policy relevance of research findings and their application to promote policy action, inform urban interventions, and drive societal change. SALURBAL achieved significant visibility and credibility among academic and nonacademic urban health stakeholders, resulting in the development of evidence and tools to support urban policymakers, planners, and policy development processes across the region. These efforts and their outcomes reveal important lessons regarding maintaining flexibility and accounting for local context in research, ensuring that resources are dedicated to policy engagement and dissemination activities, and recognizing that assessing policy impact requires a nuanced understanding of complex policymaking processes. These reflections are relevant for promoting urban health and health equity research translation across the global south and worldwide. This paper presents SALURBAL's strategy for dissemination and policy translation, highlights innovative initiatives and their outcomes, discusses lessons learned, and shares recommendations for future efforts to promote effective translation of research findings.

Keywords: Cities; Health equity; Latin America; Policy engagement; Policy making; Research translation; Urban health.

Fig. 1

SALURBAL’s policy engagement and dissemination activities over time. Top: Project phases. Middle: New policy engagement and dissemination activities were initiated at each phase and continued throughout the entire project. Bottom: Cumulative number of peer-reviewed publications produced by the project through May 2023

Fig. 2

Highlighted sections from SALURBAL policy briefs. Design and content prioritize clarity, readability, and impact, incorporating visual elements (including icons) to support rapid interpretation and comprehension

Fig. 3

Examples from a SALURBAL data brief, highlighting features that facilitate understanding by non-scientists and policy actors, such as simple visuals and highlighted key messages