Beijing Statement from the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

Almost 1800 participants from over 110 countries gathered in Beijing, China for the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research 31 October to 3 November, 2012.

Presentations and plenary videos: http://bit.ly/TBmMr2
The closing Beijing Statement: http://bit.ly/TAUWiZ

News about the Symposium: http://211.157.105.231/index.php/news-and-publications

Around the theme of inclusion and innovation towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Symposium reviewed state-of-the art research and discussed strategies for strengthening the field of health systems research. Key ideas for action include:

• Support the analysis of politics and policy; community action interventions; fiscal innovations; equity oriented health metrics; and longitudinal methods to capture dynamism and long-term impact of interventions.
• Increase research on: social inequalities in health, including urbanisation and ageing; social exclusion; governance; and the balance of sectors, including informal, private, and public.
• Social science methodologies, health metrics and monitoring and evaluation systems should be encouraged and developed in a balanced manner to appreciate the complexity of health systems, policies and implementation processes and capture their historical origins, current status and future long-term impacts.
• Data surveillance systems should be strengthened; financial flows at all levels should be documented; research and incorporation of knowledge uptake in research design should be nested within implementation of UHC for improved monitoring and accountability, including by communities.
• Knowledge translation should be facilitated by developing communities of practice and trust between researchers, practitioners and policymakers; multiple sources of knowledge and evidence should be used, including real-world experiences; open-access databases should be strengthened; and South-South exchange of innovations enhanced.
• Long term and public financing for public research institutions for health systems research is desired. Interest groups and partnerships should be supported for various forms of training in health systems research that include communication, values, power relations and context analysis at all levels.

Jamie Guth
The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO/TDR)