A new toolkit for the EDCTP Knowledge Hub

Failure to translate research findings into policy and practice prevents research from achieving maximum public health benefit. Despite substantial investment in clinical research in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the exploitation and use of research results beyond academia is often limited.

Limited opportunities for engagement between researchers and policy-makers, lack of experience in exploiting research results beyond academia, and structural and cultural differences between research and policy-making are some of the barriers to an efficient uptake of research results.

Health managers and policy-makers can also face challenges in dealing with a large volume of research evidence and difficulties in adapting evidence from systematic reviews to make it locally relevant.

The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), The Global Health Network and the four EDCTP-funded Networks of Excellence (NoEs); EACCR, CANTAM, TESA and WANETAM, are building a new ‘Translating Research into Policy’ Toolkit to sit within the EDCTP Knowledge Hub.

The vision is to grow a community of practice made up of researchers in low-and middle-income countries and develop up-to-date resource areas, eLearning courses, online interactive tools etc., to serve as an active and intuitive, open-access, ‘one-stop shop’ for guidance and practical tools and resources to support health researchers or policy-makers translate findings into policy.