National Health Research Policy
- Sets out the disease burden the research policy is meant to serve, starting with cholera: 819,980 suspected cases notified since October 2010, with 137,966 cases in 2016.
- Records Haiti as still having the highest tuberculosis incidence in the Americas at 181 per 100,000 in 2017, despite ministry efforts and free care.
- Reports malaria confirmation running at 13,189 confirmed cases (20 percent) out of 65,931 suspected in the 2016 statistical report, and overall HIV prevalence slightly down at 2 percent.
- Records non-communicable disease as the larger burden in notified terms, with 95,585 cases of hypertension and 18,762 of diabetes notified, and non-communicable diseases accounting for 57 percent of all reported deaths, of which cardiovascular disease is 29 percent.
- Records maternal and child mortality as a concern with specific figures, a neonatal mortality rate of 32 per thousand live births (EMMUS VI 2016-2017) and a hospital maternal mortality ratio of 284 per 100,000 deliveries.
- Maps what Haitian researchers actually do, with operational research at 33 percent, clinical research 28 percent, applied research 22 percent, fundamental research 6 percent and other 11 percent, and research subjects covering communicable disease (83 percent), non-communicable disease (72 percent), trauma (22 percent) and unusual events (28 percent).
- Records global acute malnutrition at 6.9 percent among children under five, which is the nutrition baseline the research agenda inherits.
Issued by the Direction d'Épidémiologie, des Laboratoires et de la Recherche in February 2020, this policy sets the terms on which health research in Haiti is to be governed and conducted. Its strategic axes open with strengthening the legal framework for research and strengthening governance, then move to the progressive and continuous development of researchers' competences. The policy's own rationale is that health research must be aligned to the country's public-health priorities and conducted with emphasis on relevance, quality, usefulness of method and contribution to the country's overall health development - on that condition, it argues, research will improve health indicators and the country's human development index. Financial support for its preparation came from the European Union and the Fondation Mérieux through the SPHaïtiLAB project, which the document acknowledges. It is the reference instrument for research ethics and authorization questions in the Haitian health sector.
How to cite
Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), 2020, National Health Research Policy, https://oldwebsite.mspp.gouv.ht/wp-content/uploads/Politique-Nationale-de-Recherche-en-Sante-MSPP-21-janvier-2020-VF.pdf