A new working paper from the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy Network (MENASP) examines the key health system and policy challenges facing the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and sets out priorities for a future research agenda.
“Strengthening Health Policy and Systems Research in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region: An Assessment of the Challenges and Recommendations for a Future Research Agenda”, by Ayat Abu Agla, Mohammed Abdalla and Ross Millar, synthesises two decades of research and policy literature alongside stakeholder perspectives to identify areas where further health policy and systems research is particularly needed.
The MENA region encompasses diverse socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts, resulting in a complex and varied set of health system challenges. While significant progress has been made in health outcomes over the past two decades, health systems across the region continue to face challenges including fragmentation, inequitable access to healthcare, workforce shortages, and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases alongside infectious diseases.
The working paper identifies eight key health system challenges that should be central to future research and policy discussions:
- Health system leadership and governance
- Healthcare workforce development and strengthening
- Health financing and sustainability
- Emergency preparedness, response and resilience
- Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health
- Climate change and health
- Artificial intelligence, digital health and health information systems
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
The authors argue that strengthening health policy and systems research capacity is important not only for generating contextually relevant evidence, but also for supporting the development of more effective and sustainable health systems and advancing progress towards universal health coverage across the region.
Priorities for a future research agenda
Building on the challenges identified, the paper proposes several priorities for strengthening health systems and improving population health outcomes.
These include greater collaboration between academic institutions, governments and international organisations to strengthen research capacity and facilitate knowledge exchange. The authors also highlight the importance of meaningful stakeholder engagement, bringing policymakers, healthcare providers and community representatives into research priority-setting and implementation.
The paper further identifies opportunities to develop public-private partnerships and engage international donors, regional organisations and private-sector partners in supporting high-priority research. At the same time, it calls for greater attention to implementation science, helping to translate existing evidence and research findings into policy and practice.
Finally, the authors emphasise the importance of disseminating and translating research through peer-reviewed publications, conferences, policy briefs and other knowledge-sharing channels, ensuring that evidence can contribute to decision-making and future research prioritisation.
The working paper provides a basis for continued discussion among researchers, policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders about how health policy and systems research can respond to the region’s evolving needs.
Support: The paper is supported by the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy Network (MENASP) at the University of Birmingham, as part of its Strengthening social welfare and security in the MENA region research programme, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Global Challenges Research Fund.