The union health ministry has issued the final draft National Health Research Policy expected to serve as a beacon to guide health research in India. This initiative is expected to contribute towards attainment of better health for all Indians.

The policy envisions to maximize the returns on investments in health research through creation of a health research system to prioritize, coordinate, facilitate conduct of effective and ethical health research and its translation into products, policies and programmes aimed at improving health especially of the vulnerable populations.

Earlier in April last year, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had issued the draft policy which was widely circulated, inviting comments and suggestions from experts and others.  Besides, ‘Open house’ sessions were organized in Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Mumbai. It brought together a wide variety of stakeholders spanning across academia, research organizations, private sector, non-government organizations and civil societies, industry, philanthropic organizations, bilateral international agencies, UN bodies (WHO, UNICEF), various ministries and departments in the central and state governments, and representative of media (print and electronic).

“The enthusiastic and spirited discussions provided valuable insight into the expectations of the various stakeholders from the National Health Research Policy. The final version has been redrafted and incorporated their aspirations and expectations”, said Dr VK Katoch, secretary, department of health research, and director-general, ICMR.

The policy proposes to establish an overarching  National Health Research Management Forum (NHRMF), with a mandate: To advise on and evolve national health research policies and priorities and to evolve mechanisms and action plans for their implementation; To develop a 5 year projection of the plans for health research and to prepare an annual National health research plan; To do a mid-Plan appraisal for course correction, as needed; To promote the development of health research activities in the country; To review biomedical & health research management, and suggest strategies to overcome problems in implementation of policies; To suggest mechanisms to nurture a scientific environment to attract  talent and to develop human resources for biomedical and health research; and To facilitate utilisation and dissemination of research results and advocacy for Health research.

The policy proposes that the Health Research in the country would be developed into a National Health Research System (NHRS) wherein all research agencies, cutting across Ministries and sectors identify priority areas of research and coordinate with each other to avoid duplication, fragmentation, redundancy and gaps in knowledge, in order to enable the results of research to transform health as a major driving force for development.

The broad objectives of the policy include: identify priorities for effective and ethical health research to enable the achievement of the objectives of NHP 2002, NRHM, Bharat Nirman and National Food security Act as well as global commitments such as MDG and IHR, ensuring that the results of health research are translated into action; foster inter-sectoral coordination in health research including all departments within the government, private sector and the academia to promote innovation and ensure effective translation to encourage/ accelerate indigenous production of diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, medical devices etc; focus on the marginalized, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged sections of society; strengthen national networks between research institutes, academia and service institutes, and encourage PPP; put in place strategies and mechanisms for assessing the cost-effectiveness and cost benefits of interventions for health; and develop and manage human resources and infrastructure for health research and ensure that international collaborative research contributes to national health.