The Consortium, which is health focused, seeks to among others, strengthen health leadership capacity for research, innovation and change for decision making and implementation, as well as enhance researcher ability to work with decision makers and implementers to identify relevant research agenda, generate, package and disseminate their study information to support policy development and implementation.

It is made up of partners including individuals, institutions, civil society, researchers, the academia, media, policy makers, health professionals and scientists, from across West Africa and Cameroon. The participating countries at the meeting included Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Kenya.

Professor Irene Akua Agyepong, a Public Health Specialist with the Ghana Health Service’s (GHS) Research and Development Division of the Dodowa Health Research Centre, giving an overview of the COMCAHPASS project, said it was important that the partners met to review and share ideas on how to execute the planned proposals.

She said the partners were among those working tirelessly to generate evidence to support context-relevant, effective policy and programme decision making, implementation of quality, effective and efficient Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) services and outcomes.

The COMCAHPASS Project, she explained, seeks to conduct a multi-level capacity building and networking at individual, institutional and country levels in West and Central Africa for leadership in Health Policy Systems (HPS) as well as MNCAH research and practice. She said the project which was being coordinated by the GHS, started implementation in April 2016, with a total funding commitment of up to 800,000 US dollars for five years from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

It has been preceded by a two-year consultation and planning process with institutions and actors across English and French speaking West Africa and Cameroon active in MNCAH and HPS research, policy and implementation to inform the proposal, she said.

Prof Agyepong said among the specific objective of the project is to collaborate with the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) at contextual level to promote the use of evidence for MNCAH programs and HPS strengthening for improved outcomes, monitor and evaluate the processes and impact and draw lessons for improvements.

She said the original and full project design based on the full consultations were very ambitious with multiple sub-projects led by co-partner institutions across several establishments in West Africa and with corresponding budgets assigned to them at an estimated total cost of a little over 2 million dollars. She said to be able to work within the available funding, the original plans and proposals has to be scaled back considerably.

She said the continuous process of facilitating collaborative linkages with partner institutions and individuals across the various regions through strengthened networks and relationships was crucial, and the meeting would finalize plans including dates and module leads and facilitators for the West Africa Summer School on HPS and MNCAH. Prof Agyepong said it is also important that a platform be formed, to catalyze the continuing effort to find additional funding to eventually execute its original ideas and the meeting would explore options for raising funds to execute the full planned proposal.

Professor John Gyapong, an official of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, who chaired the meeting underscored the importance of ensuring the proper functioning of the country’s health systems so that the good interventions being put would achieve the desired results.

He, however, said there would be a two-pronged approach to addressing the challenges, and instead of waiting for the fixation of the faulty systems, countries could use approved interventions to deliver quality outcomes.