OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS, STUDY AREA AND STUDY POPULATION

Abstract

Health systems research contributes to improvement of the health delivery system and management. Currently health systems research is being conducted to achieve the individual project objectives rather than focusing on the national health systems improvement. This special issue brings together the original research articles focusing on current national issues of health systems. In this issue 12 articles are published covering 8 thematic areas of health systems. The themes are: effective coverage, health human resources, decentralization, quality of health services, the growth and development of private hospitals, health management information system, utilization of Information Education and Communication (IEC), and health services utilization. The studies reveal low utilization of health services; low professional satisfaction; health managers at various levels of health administration have no right perception about roles and responsibilities in line with decentralization; the quality dimensions of health services were graded as poor and the humane aspects of care were poor; private hospitals face the problems of health human power and escalation of costs; implementation of health data and utilization of health information system was found to be far below the national expectations; design, production, distribution and utilization of printed IEC material were not in line with underlying principles of IEC material development. It is hoped that the topics covered in this issue will go a long way in not only sensitizing researchers, academicians, health managers, policy makers and other stakeholders working in the health systems.