Strengthening health system responsiveness to citizen feedback about health services in South Africa and Kenya
10 September 2021Researching the obesogenic food environment in South Africa and Ghana
15 September 2021Strengthening capacity for research, education, policy support, advocacy and networking of the partners in the field of human and animal health
SOPH’s key focus with ITM has been on strengthening South-based knowledge generation based on ‘embedded country’ health policy and systems research (HPSR) and education.
Project period
01 January 2017 – 31 December 2021
Project Summary
In 2017 the SOPH renewed its partnership with the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM), in collaboration with the University of Pretoria’s Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases (DVTD) and the University of Cape Town’s Division of Health Policy and Systems.
The partnership secured a new five-year grant from the Belgian Development Co-operation to strengthen the partners’ capacity for research, education, policy support, advocacy and networking, building on the previous Switching the Poles project.
SOPH’s key focus with ITM has been on strengthening South-based knowledge generation based on ‘embedded country’ health policy and systems research (HPSR) and education. The project involves a focus on three synergistic strategies, namely
- doctoral and post-doctoral level training and curriculum development;
- South-South networking; and
- collaborative HPSR and supervision.
In 2019 and 2020 the School consolidated our pre-doctoral, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, providing for a range of flexible modalities of support to enhance student and supervisor capacity and experience through the various phases of the PhD. We also intensified peer support and networking opportunities through bi-monthly webinars, established an on-line writing camp and ran an induction programme for new 13 new enrolees during the course of 2020.
We have also been able to deepen the collaboration (teaching, research, supervision) between ITM and UWC in a few critical areas: health system governance, pharmaceutical public health and short course development. We launched a jointly run ITM-UWC on-line module in Pharmaceutical Public Health and Management, which constitutes a third MPH module in the Pharmaceutical Public Health area of specialisation at SOPH.
The project has synergies with a number of SOPH’s other initiatives and collaborations, including:
- The Collaboration for Health Systems Analysis and Innovation (CHESAI), a regional health policy and systems research (HPSR) field building project, between SOPH UWC and the Health Policy and Systems Division of the UCT School of Public Health & Family Medicine;
- The Collaboration for Health Policy and Systems Analysis (CHEPSAA) repository of teaching/learning materials on health policy and systems, including the distance learning guide developed in the current framework agreement.
- Our two existing South African Research Chairs (SARChI) in health systems governance and health systems, complexity and social change, which focus on growing and retaining research capacity at South African universities.
Funders
Belgian Development Cooperation through the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp
