Saving millions of lives but some resources squandered: emerging lessons from health research system pandemic achievements and challenges.

ABSTRACT: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, astonishingly rapid research averted millions of deaths worldwide through new vaccines and repurposed and new drugs. Evidence use informed life-saving national policies including non-pharmaceutical interventions. Simultaneously, there was unprecedented waste, with many underpowered trials on the same drugs. We identified lessons from COVID-19 research responses by applying WHO's framework for research systems. It has four functions-governance, securing finance, capacity-building, and production and use of research-and nine components. Two linked questions focused the analysis. First, to what extent have achievements in knowledge production and evidence use built on existing structures and capacity in national health research systems? Second, did the features

SUBMITTER: Hanney SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9464102 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature