FrameworkForOperationsResearch PDF

Framework for Operations and
Implementation Research in Health

and Disease Control Programs
The World Bank

Global HIV/AIDS
Program
Acknowledgements
The following individuals provided overall leadership to the project: Dr Jane
Kengeya-Kayondo (TDR), Dr George Shakarishvili (the Global Fund), Dr Serge Xueref
(the Global Fund).
Mr Ivane Bochorishvili (TDR) provided valuable management support.
Special thanks to: Dr Boakye Boatin (TDR), Dr Janis Karlin Lazdins-Helds (TDR), Dr
Eline Korenromp (the Global Fund), Dr Carla Makhlouf Obermeyer (WHO), Dr Flor-
ence Nantulya (UNAIDS), Dr Peter Olumese (WHO), Dr Ikushi Onozaki (WHO) and
Dr Franco Pagnoni (TDR) for their technical input throughout the project implemen-
tation and to Dr William Brieger and Dr Amy Ellis of the Johns Hopkins School of
Public Health for providing support in drafting and finalizing the framework.
The framework has greatly benefited from valuable contributions provided by

partner organizations and their participation in the project has ensured the shared
ownership of the outcome, for which gratitude is extended to the members of the
technical working group and the consultation meeting participants.
The production team included Beatrice Bernescut, Cheryl Toksoz and Rosie Vanek.
For questions and comments please contact:
TDR: Dr Jane Kengeya-Kayondo at: [email protected]

The Global Fund: [email protected]
Preface
Operations research (OR) is critical in providing scientific evidence for health and disease control pro-
grams to improve their quality and “learning” as they scale up. In the context of aligning international
health support, the need to develop a framework endorsed and recognized by a wider professional com-
munity as a commonly-used instrument for designing, planning, implementing and taking full advantage
of effective OR has been well recognized.
The Framework for Operations and Implementation Research in Health and Disease Control Programs is a result
of a collaborative effort between the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Special
Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and an inter-agency technical working
group. The culmination of this collaboration was a three-day meeting held in Geneva in April 2008 and
attended by over fifty participants representing the Global Fund, TDR, the World Health Organization
(WHO), the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), the World Bank, field-based programs, policy-makers and research communities
from all over the world, which finalized and endorsed the framework.
The overall goal of the document is two-fold: to standardize the practice of OR across the international
health community and to stimulate the integration of OR into health programs. In general, OR needs
to be integrated as an essential part of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) efforts. Thus, the concept of
M’OR’E could become a new paradigm enhancing the practice of integrating monitoring, research and
evaluation dimensions as one common component into program management systems. It would not only
strengthen program implementation, but would also facilitate more effective utilization of M&E resources
(currently recommended at five to ten percent of overall Global Fund grant budgets).
The range of target audiences for this document is wide and varies from policy-makers to program man-
agers, from researchers to program implementers, from donors to government agencies, from technical
organizations to civil society and other stakeholders.
The document is divided into three main sections. Section A contains an overview of OR definitions,
scope and uses. Section B is the OR process flowchart and offers a step-by-step 16-item checklist of major
activities required in the planning, implementation and follow-through (dissemination and use) of OR at
the country level. Section C provides case studies of OR activities from the field and an annotated refer-
ence list of available handbooks, guidelines and other tools for OR. Feedback from people who use this
document will help make improvements in future editions.
We strongly suggest that programs and partners use this tool to incorporate OR in a systematic way, so
that we can maximize the “learning” and quality of the scale-up of health services.
Daniel Low-Beer, Robert Ridley,

Director, Director,
Performance Evaluation and Policy, UNICEF/UNDP/ World Bank/WHO Special
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Program for Research and Training in
Tuberculosis and Malaria Tropical Diseases

Technical working group members and consultation meeting participants
Name Organization Country of Work
Dr Abdullah S. Ali The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Revolutionary United Republic
Government of Zanzibar of Tanzania
Dr Hoda Youssef Atta WHO EMRO Egypt
Dr Hastings Banda EQUI-TB Knowledge Program/ National TB Program Malawi
Dr Richard Carr RBM/WHO Switzerland
Dr Keith Carter AMRO/PAHO USA
Dr Alexandra De Sousa UNICEF Kenya
Dr Charles Delacollette WHO-Mekong Malaria Program Thailand
Dr Alice Desclaux Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) Senegal
Dr Elizabeth Elhassan Sight Savers International Nigeria
Dr Bayo Segun Fatunmbi WHO Representative Office Nigeria
Dr Melba Gomes MPR/TDR Switzerland
Ms Andrea Godfrey WHO TBS/STB Switzerland
Professor John Gyapong Health Research Unit, Ghana Health Service Ghana
Dr Nguyen Binh Hoa National Hospital of TB and Respiratory Disease Viet Nam
Dr Scott Kellerman Population Council USA
Dr Wilford Kirungi Ministry of Health Headquarters Uganda
Dr George Alfred Ki-Zerbo WHO AFRO Congo
Professor Sinata Koulla-Shiro Ministry of Public Health Cameroon
Dr Ireen Makwiza Equi-TB Knowledge Program Malawi
Dr Kelly Mann Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease USA
Dr Kamini Nirmala Mendis GMP/WHO Switzerland
Dr Bernard Nahlen President’s Malaria Initiative, USAID USA
Dr P.R. Narayanan Tuberculosis Research Centre India
Dr Jerome Ndaruhutse Conseil National de Lutte Contre le SIDA Burundi
Dr Pierre-Yves Norval WHO TBS/STB Switzerland
Mr John Novak USAID/GH/HIV-AIDS USA

Name Organization Country of Work
Dr Ayoade MJ Oduola STE/TDR Switzerland
Dr Philip Onyebujoh TBR/TDR Switzerland
Dr Miguel Orozco Centero de Investigaciones y Estudios de la Salud (CIES) Nicaragua
Dr Leonard I. Ortega WHO Representative Office Myanmar
Dr Jan H.F. Remme NPR/TDR Switzerland
Dr Rosalia Rodríguez-Garcia The World Bank Global Aids Program USA
Dr Deborah Rugg UNAIDS Switzerland
Dr Omar Sam Health Services Department of State for Health The Gambia
and Social Welfare
Dr George Schmid HIV/WHO Switzerland
Dr Bernhard Schwartländer UNAIDS China
Dr Joseph Simbaya Institute of Economic and Social Research Zambia
Dr Yves Souteyrand HIV/WHO Switzerland
Professor Richard Speare Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Australia
James Cook University
Dr Sergio Spinaci GMP/WHO Switzerland
Dr Awash Teklehaimanot Director Malaria Program, Columbia University USA
Dr Zaida Yadón AMRO/PAHO Brazil
Dr Richard Zaleskis WHO EURO Denmark
Dr Christina Zarowsky International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada
Dr Matteo Zignol WHO TBS/STB Switzerland
Dr Susan Zimicki Infectious Diseases Initiative, Academy for Educational USA

Development
List of Terms &
Abbreviations Used
ACT artemisinin-based combination therapy
ART antiretroviral treatment
ARV antiretroviral
BCC behavior change communication
CBD community-based distribution
CBO community-based organization
CDI community-directed interventions
FGD focus group discussion
IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank)
IDRC International Development Research Centre (Canada)
IEC information/education/communication
IPTp intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy
IR implementation research
IRB institutional review board
ITN insecticide-treated bed net
LLIN long-lasting insecticide-treated nets
LOI letter of intent
M&E monitoring and evaluation
MCHN maternal and child health and nutrition
MRC Medical Research Center (The Gambia)
NGO nongovernmental organization
NMCP National Malaria Control Programme (The Gambia)
OI opportunistic infections
OR operations research
ORS oral rehydration solution
PAHO Pan American Health Organization
PEPFAR President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (U.S.)
PLWHA people living with HIV/AIDS
PMTCT prevention of mother-to-child transmission
PR Principal Recipient
RAP rapid assessment procedures
RDT rapid diagnostic tests
SP sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine
TB tuberculosis
TDR Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases
UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
VCT voluntary counseling and testing
WHO World Health Organization
Contents
SECTION A - Concepts 10
Introduction to the Framework 11

Scope and Categorization of Implementation and Operations Research (conceptual issues) 11
Methodology for Developing the Framework 12
Applications of OR/IR: Types of Issues/questions OR/IR can address 13
Role of OR/IR in Health and Disease Control Programs 14
Examples from the Field 15
Partners and Sources of Support in OR/IR 17
SECTION B – Methods and Management Flowchart 18
I. PLANNING PHASE 19
Step 1: Organize the research group 19
Step 2: Determine issues or problems to study and frame research questions around these 21
Step 3: Develop a research proposal to answer OR/IR questions 23
Step 4: Obtain ethical clearance 24
Step 5: Identify funding sources and obtain support for OR/IR 25
Step 6: Establish a budget and financial management procedures 25
Step 7: Plan for capacity building and technical support 26
II. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE 27
Step 8: Monitor project implementation and maintain quality 27
Step 9: Pre-test all research procedures 28
Step 10: Establish and maintain data management and quality control 29
Step 11: Explore together with stakeholders interpretations and recommendations 30
arising from the research findings
III. FOLLOW-THROUGH PHASE 31
Step 12: Develop a dissemination plan 31
Step 13: Disseminate results and recommendations 32
Step 14: Document changes in policy and/or guidelines that resulted from the research 32
Step 15: Monitor changes in the revised program 33
Step 16: Consider ways of improving the program that can be tested 33
through further research
SECTION C – Case Studies, Toolkit, Resources and References 34
Selected Case Studies of Operations Research 35

Malawi: Linking Civil Society with Care for Tuberculosis 35
Burkina Faso: Examining Treatment & Care Practices for People Living with HIV/AIDS 36
Operations Research Handbooks and Assorted Resources 37
Selected Examples of Publications on Operations Research, Translating Research Findings 41
into Action, and Research Dissemination
References 46
Annexes 48
SECTION A
CONCEPTS
Section A - Concepts
Introduction to the Framework 5. This framework is not intended to be a capacity-building

tool. It may certainly be used by those who organize
1. This document is meant to serve as a primary reference training for researchers as reference material. Hopefully, this
for people who plan and carry out operations or implemen- framework will enhance the practical application of research
tation research (OR/IR)1 in order to improve the implemen- and bring research and practice closer to each other.
tation and management of disease control and other health
programs. The overall approach is that of a framework that 6. One stimulus for the production of this framework arose
helps researchers and program managers identify the steps from observations by the Global Fund. Since its inception,
needed to set a research question and then work through the Global Fund has made it possible for countries to in-
the steps of research design, implementation, management clude in their proposals opportunities for operations and IR.
and reporting, ultimately leading to the use of the findings This has traditionally and appropriately been placed under
to improve health policies and programs in order to attain the section dealing with M&E. Research components in ap-
the desired impact. The added value of this document is to proved Global Fund grants rose from only 19 percent overall
produce the analysis of practical OR/IR experiences to cre- in the Round 1-5 activities to 52 percent in Round 6 alone
ate a one-stop document for program managers/staff and (Korenromp et al., 2007). Now, after seven rounds of Global
researchers who want to use OR/IR to improve their health Fund support, people have realized that it is time to harness
and disease control program and policies. the knowledge derived from these OR/IR studies and those
supported by many other donors in order to “standardize”
2. The framework is organized in three major sections. the steps for conducting OR/IR within a practical framework
Section A gives an overview of OR/IR including definitions, that would enhance the research efforts and lead to better
scope and use. Section B consists of a flowchart or series of disease control programs and policy-making.
steps in planning, implementing and disseminating OR/IR.
Section C is a collection of resources including case studies,
existing guidelines and tools and a reference list of materials Scope and Categorization of
and papers quoted in Sections A and B. Implementation and Operations
Research (Conceptual Issues)
3. The framework will be a living document that can be
updated periodically. This is not an extensive document, but 7. This is a framework on OR. The terminology for such
more like a checklist to aid in planning. Section C provides research may vary by setting and sponsor, but the intent
more of an annotated description of guidelines and refer- of OR and this framework is to learn about management,
ences for the actual conduct of operations and implementa- administrative, cultural, social, behavioral, economic and
tion research (IR) and use of research results. The actual other factors that either exist as bottlenecks to effective
guidelines and articles are not attached, but nearly all can implementation or could be tested to drive insights into
be found on the internet and downloaded freely. In these new, more effective approaches to programming. By its
instances a short synopsis of the material is given, followed very nature, this research is usually specific to the environ-
by its web address. ment in which the program operates, although there are
multi-country research projects that address a problem
4. The framework is intended to be for people and orga- common to several countries in a region.
nizations involved in disease control efforts to plan and
implement research that will answer questions they have 8. Several definitions are available concerning OR and IR.
about how to make these programs better. Users may These are located in Annex A to stimulate the thinking of
include people involved in national control programs for readers. Some of the key ideas in these definitions explain
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other endemic diseases that OR/IR can accomplish the following:
and health issues such as reproductive health, nutrition and
child survival and development. Users may be based in the • identify and solve program problems in a timely manner
public, private, academic or nongovernmental organization • help policy-makers and program managers make
(NGO) sectors. The framework is designed to be generic evidence-based program decisions
and broad enough to be used by any researcher or imple- • improve program quality and performance using
menter who undertakes OR/IR. scientifically valid methods
1
In this document Operations Research (OR) represents Implementation Research (IR) as well. 11
• help program managers and staff understand how Methodology for Developing
their programs work the Framework
9. A discussion of OR would not be complete without 11. The Global Fund joined efforts with TDR to develop
reference to rapid assessment procedures (RAP). In Annex this framework. Three major processes were undertaken
A, one can see a close affinity with OR in terms of emphasis to design the framework. The first consisted of a review
and methods. The annex also refers to the area of forma- of available and existing tools and guidelines in order
tive research which can help in designing and monitoring to extract common lessons and themes. Internet search
interventions being tested through OR/IR. was the primary tool for identifying these tools and
guidelines for the simple reason that if one could access
10. Finally, during the working meeting on OR/IR held in these tools on the internet for this review they would
Geneva as part of the development of this framework, par- be likely be in the public domain and therefore also
ticipants agreed on the statement below as reflecting the accessible to users of the framework. The framework
scope of OR/IR. draws on a number of multilateral and bilateral disease
control programs that provide funds for research that
Any research producing practically-usable knowledge addresses questions concerning how to make these
(evidence, findings, information, etc) which can improve programs function better.
program implementation (e.g., effectiveness, efficiency,
quality, access, scale-up, sustainability) regardless of the 12. The second step was based on country visits where
type of research (design, methodology, approach) falls known OR/IR had taken place as part of a disease
within the boundaries of operations research. control program. The goal was to be broadly repre-
sentative. Initially, seven countries in different regions
with a focus on different diseases (TB, HIV and malaria)
were selected. Country visits consisted of in-depth
interviews with program managers, managers of the
actual research grants and the research team members
themselves. An interview guide was developed for this
purpose and senior professional staff from TDR and
WHO undertook the visits with assistance from Global
Fund Portfolio Managers and country-based program
managers and researchers. The guide encouraged data
collection in a way that tested the major steps in OR/IR
as outlined in this framework. Due to logistical chal-
lenges it was only possible to visit five countries prior to
the drafting of this framework.
13. The third process in framework development was a

three-day “Joint WHO-TDR/TGF Consultative Technical
Meeting on the Framework for Implementation/OR in
Health and Disease Control Programs”. Over 50 disease
program managers and researchers, representatives of
international agencies (USAID, World Bank, UNAIDS, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others)
attended and reviewed the draft materials and made
their own contributions to enliven the contents with
more practical examples from the field.
12
Applications of OR/IR: Types of Issues/ commonly relevant to other high-burden countries, the
Questions OR/IR Can Address publication of the results should have international as well
as national influence.”
14. According to RBM/WHO (2003), planners of OR
should ask, “What are the operational gaps (problems) 18. A program might not be reaching its coverage goals.
which, if solved, could enhance malaria control activi- Maybe this is due to procurement and supply problems
ties in your country? List them under health system, or maybe to low levels of compliance. If the problem
preventive and control measures, and community issues” focuses on procurement and supply, a set of research
(WHO, 2003).
15. The issues and questions that OR/IR can

Example of OR/IR Potential Issues:
address may fall in the following categories
(generic, not disease-specific):
The Challenges of Obtaining and
Delivering Commodities
• Health System – service issues (drug avail- The delivery system is not reaching sufficient
ability, quality, safety, access, distribution, numbers of the target group because of:
affordability, skills and capacity of health
 Low coverage
workers, etc); or policy issues (policy guide-
 Failure to scale-up
lines, regulations and their applicability);
 Equity issues such as not reaching the poor, those
• Preventive and control measures – avail-
living in remote areas, the marginalized, women,
ability and use of insecticide-treated bed
children, adolescents
nets (ITNs), insecticides, intermittent pre-
 Not reaching those who are stigmatized
ventive treatment, environmental manage-
 Insufficient staffing - may need to look at task shifting
ment, availability of effective drugs, cost of
approaches, e.g., use of community workers.
the drugs etc.
• Community issues – knowledge, attitudes, The delivery system may be having quality issues
behaviors and practices, self-medication etc.  Poor quality of services and target groups avoiding
the service
16. The Quality Assurance Project (2004)  Poor diagnostic and dispensing services
examined the role of the private sector in  Other technical problems
tuberculosis (TB) control and addressed the  Poor information/education/communication (IEC)
following issues: programs
 No job aids or poor use of them
• The nature and extent of TB services pro-  Poor referral systems
vided by private sector providers (private Managerial issues may be the main bottleneck
doctors, pharmacies, and drug sellers),
These may include:
• The TB client’s motivation in using the pri-
vate sector, and  Poor adherence to policy recommendations
• The willingness of private providers to par-  Poor record-keeping and reporting, M&E
ticipate in TB service provision (screening,
 Poor information dissemination
 Ethical issues
counseling, referrals, and treatment).
 Interaction or competition with other interventions
for other diseases
17. According to Walley et al. (2007) a major
 Marketing and advocacy
focus of OR/IR questions should be based on
an understanding of the barriers to large-scale Issues may be at the community/societal and
access. “Then trials and social and economic individual levels
studies can be embedded within program sites,  Levels of household income that influence affordability
and provide knowledge on how to overcome  Stigma
these barriers and deliver effective interven-  Other participation barriers
tions. Because these operational issues are  Perceptions and misperceptions
13
questions might ask whether a program is having trouble in Haiti (Loechl et al., 2005). This is a good example of
getting the right quantity or amount of commodities and OR used to identify and overcome program bottlenecks.
supplies (drugs, diagnostics, ITNs, condoms, etc.) or once The report “describes the methods and results of OR
procured, these are not reaching the target groups (see undertaken to assess the effectiveness of World Vision’s
box). This may be the result of supply chain issues which food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition
can be overcome by better supply chain management, (MCHN) program in the Central Plateau region of Haiti.
stocking, restocking practices, supplies forecasting etc. The research had three main objectives: (1) to assess
but it may also have to do with the 4As - accessibility, af- the effectiveness of implementation and operations of
fordability, acceptability and availability, which are linked the program relative to plans; (2) to assess the quality
to demand and supply and also the system issues below. of delivery of the various services; and (3) to explore the
perceptions of different stakeholders (i.e., beneficiaries
19. The commodities may have poor quality or reduced and field implementers) regarding program operations
potency because of packaging problems, expiry dates and service delivery and the motivational factors that
monitoring, storage problems, use and misuse, compli- may affect staff’s performance and job satisfaction. The
ance and adherence, the extent to which use guidelines overall goal was to identify constraints to effective opera-
are adhered to, torn ITNs. Or adverse events which give tions; it was more important to identify and implement
the impression that the tool is not good or is unsafe may corrective actions that will ensure smooth implementa-
be interfering with appropriate use. tion of the program and its various components. The
report is directed to program managers, researchers, and
20. The commodities may be facing unexpected out- development professionals who are interested in applying
comes such as resistance to drugs, adverse reactions, OR methods to evaluate and strengthen similar MCHN
faults in case detection etc. Most problems are linked to programs with a food aid component in developing
the system and examples are given in the box. countries.”
24. CBD is a good example of OR that eventually led the

Role of OR/IR in Health and Disease way to a key service delivery mechanism in a variety of
Control Programs health programs. WHO (2003) reported that, “Early OR
work (in reproductive health) with CBD of contraceptives
21. Before looking at examples, it is important to exam- led to significant programmatic changes through work
ine the context of OR. Walley et al. (2007) observed that, conducted in Pakistan, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya. OR
“Discovering ways to increase access to and delivery of showed that there is a demand for family planning services
interventions is a major challenge. Typically research is within communities, and that CBD programs can increase
divorced from implementation, which has led to a grow- family planning use even in settings where the health-care
ing literature about how to get research into practice. infrastructure is inadequate. OR also identified issues that
However, OR is best prioritized, designed, implemented affect program effectiveness, such as variations in agents’
and replicated from within national programs.” productivity and the effects of different types of compen-
sation on program productivity.”
22. According to TDR (UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/
WHO, 2005) “There are many examples of potentially-
effective disease control products that have had only
limited impact on the burden of disease because of
inadequate implementation, resulting in poor access.”
To address this problem, TDR suggests research that will
“significantly improve access to efficacious interventions
against tropical diseases by developing practical solutions
to common, critical problems in the implementation of
these interventions.”
23. OR has been used by the International Food Policy

Research Institute to monitor a child nutrition program
14
Examples from the Field 27. Partners found that the need to build capacity to
conduct OR was an important lesson that emerged, as well
25. Examples of OR/IR implementation were gathered from as the need to clearly establish the research work plan, a
field visits and contributors at the working group meeting data quality and monitoring system, process and outcome
in Geneva. These give some idea of the scope and steps indicators and general training and guidance in project
involved. More detailed case studies are found in Section C management. Upon completion of the study, research
as full examples and in the annotated reference section. findings were disseminated to national health programs
and other national stakeholders. Because the research
was planned and executed in the context of an existing
Nicaragua: Examining the Effectiveness program, research results were immediately translated into
of Testing and Treatment Programs programmatic changes and utilized to inform subsequent
for Malaria operations research.
26. The increasing prevalence of malaria arising after

national health system decentralization and frequent Zimbabwe: Identifying Gaps in HIV
natural disasters provided the rationale for an OR study on Prevention among Orphans and Young
the testing and treatment of malaria in the isolated North People in Hwange District
Atlantic region of Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan Ministry of
Health, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 28. OR/IR was built on a study that found that girls who
a national university and a local NGO collaborated to have been orphaned because of HIV are at greater risk of
examine several OR questions, including the efficacy of acquiring HIV themselves. During a stakeholders meeting,
chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to treat Hwange District was chosen because of its high preva-
uncomplicated malaria, the feasibility and validity of using lence of HIV and a large number of orphans. Community
a rapid diagnostic test, the use of biological agents in informants listed venues where people - particularly
vector control and the identification of local knowledge, young people - meet new partners, including bars,
attitudes and practices in relation to malaria in the region. taverns, nightclubs, hotels, hostels, schools and borehole
Several challenges arose during the implementation of the wells, and these became places where interviews could
research. Managing the diverse procedures, administrative be done. A household survey was also carried out and it
interactions and reporting needs of all the different imple- confirmed that young girls actually spend a lot of their
menting partners proved difficult. time in ordinary homes, not just public places. The study
documented that females aged 18-24 years seemed to
have riskier sexual behavior than females of other ages,
and that there was commonly mixing of older males and
these younger females. The study concluded that because
individuals in Zimbabwe are meeting new sexual partners
in a variety of venues, it is important to incorporate HIV
programs into everyday life.
29. Several program recommendations arose from this

research. First, prevention programs need to target all
youths, including those who socialize at the venues
identified above. Some of these venues - like schools and
borehole wells - would not have been identified without
the research. Secondly, because of the wide variety of
places where sexual contact can be initiated, community
programming was recommended, not just activities in
obvious public venues. Also, the findings implied that
condoms need to be made available in a variety of venues
in the community. (Source: Measure Evaluation, 2008).
15
The Gambia: Testing Effectiveness of ACTs • Practice of the TB DOTS strategy was low.
to Treat Malaria • TB drug dispensing practices were not in accordance
with National TB Control Program guidelines.
30. The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) of • TB information provided to clients was limited.
The Gambia, in collaboration with the Medical Research • TB stigma was strong.
Center (MRC), WHO and several NGOs, is conducting
OR to examine the effectiveness of artemisinin-based 33. Policy recommendations arising from the study includ-
combination therapy (ACTs) (Coartem©) at national ed training private providers in use of national guidelines
public health facilities. With the use of mixed methods, and developing linkages and working relationships be-
this OR aims to examine community compliance and tween public and private sector from national to commu-
acceptability of Coartem to treat malaria in children aged nity level in order to improve the quality of this important
six months to five years. Treatment is being provided source of care. (Source: Quality Assurance Project, 2004).
by NMCP at health facilities and research data is being
collected and managed by MRC. This research received
full ethical approval of the study protocol from national Mekong Region: Improving Malaria
and institutional ethics committees, which helped to vet Control Among Vulnerable Populations
and strengthen the research plan.
34. Improving malaria control in vulnerable populations
31. Although research is currently ongoing, several les- such as among hard-to-reach ethnic minorities remains a
sons have already emerged. A focus on creating a strong challenge. Barriers such as poverty, isolation, geographic
consensus and collaboration among study partners has and cultural barriers hamper access to and use of health
enabled research activities to proceed on time and with the services. In an attempt to increase control of malaria,
involvement and support of all stakeholders. The inclusion WHO and the Asian Development Bank joined efforts to
of a well-established and experienced research institution sponsor OR to inform the development of behavior change
in the study has strengthened the quality and rigor of the communications (BCC) programs for the vulnerable
research and has allowed other study partners to focus populations of the Mekong region. Program managers
on other activities, such as project implementation and and data collectors across the region were trained to use
monitoring. A dissemination strategy has been created that a standardized research methodology which included
plans to communicate study findings through a variety of household surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs).
mechanisms, including ongoing reports to implementing Implementation challenges were numerous, and consisted
study partners and stakeholders, community members, largely of a lack of capacity to conduct surveys in difficult
and the presentation of findings to the wider public settings where language barriers existed. A lack of database
through conferences, press, and the publication of findings management and reporting and inadequate follow-up
in scientific journals. from central stakeholders were also problematic.
Cambodia: Treating Tuberculosis in the 35. In spite of these difficulties, research results provided
Private Sector important information that was used to adjust program-
matic interventions and increase access to malaria control
32. In 2003 little was known about the role of the private efforts. Improvements to better monitor interventions were
sector in treating TB in Cambodia. The first step was also instigated. BCC materials were adjusted based on OR
to undertake OR to learn the nature and extent of TB findings and awareness about malaria control and health
management in the private sector. Interviewers reached services was increased among vulnerable populations.
doctors, pharmacists, pharmacy staff, drug sellers and TB OR also highlighted the urgent need to increase national
patients. Trained research staff posing as “Mystery Clients” expertise in social sciences and anthropology and to build
also approached the private providers. Key findings in- national capacity to conduct research. (Source: Mekong
cluded the following: Malaria Project).
• Most people with a chronic cough visited pharmacies/

drug stores to seek initial remedy.
• TB case management knowledge was low.
16
Partners and Sources of Support need arises. Ideally, such OR/IR should produce results in
in OR/IR a timely manner so that findings can be integrated into
grant implementation to improve program performance.
36. Several large international donor partners have been The fact that little is presently known about whether
sponsoring OR/IR in the context of their support for and how countries are using this research opportunity
national health and disease control programs. Below prompted staff at the Global Fund to engage TDR to
are some examples - including but not limited to - TDR, take research experiences from the field and draw on
USAID, and the Global Fund. Other partners who focus the rich resources of published guidelines to develop a
more on research include the International Bank for simple, user-friendly framework to enhance likelihood
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, the World of OR/IR being planned, implemented and its results
Bank), Rockefeller Foundation and CODESRIA (with used, not only with Global Fund grants but with re-
more examples found in Annex B). TDR has for 30 years sources from a variety of donors including those within
sponsored IR aimed at: countries. [One can find OR guidance for Global Fund
proposals currently at the following website http://www.
• Assessing the real-life, setting-specific, large-scale theglobalfund.org/en/apply/call8/technical/]
effectiveness of disease control tools, products and
approaches in order to provide the evidence that 39. USAID has developed research over the years to
policy-makers need to take decisions on options and address child and reproductive health and HIV efforts,
to set realistic implementation targets. as for example the Applied Diarrheal Diseases Research,
• Identification of common critical implementation Horizons, and Applied Research for Child Health pro-
problems that are susceptible to research and their grams. These programs not only provide country-specific
consumer-related determinants which, if addressed, information and lessons learned but have also resulted in
could result in effective large-scale equitable access to production of handbooks and guidelines to aid others in
interventions. conducting similar research.
• Development of practical solutions to implementation
problems and testing whether new implementation
strategies based on these solutions are effective and
can significantly improve access under real-life condi-
tions of routine disease control.
• Determination of the best and most cost-effective
way to introduce new implementation strategies into
the public and private-health care systems and ap-
proaches to facilitate their full-scale implementation,
evaluation and modification as required.
37. A strong example of TDR’s IR is development, field

testing and expanding the application of community-
directed interventions (CDI), first in the control of
onchocerciasis through community involvement and
subsequently in testing the approach in interventions to
control malaria, distribute Vitamin A and treat TB. The
CDI approach was adopted by the African Programme
for Onchocerciasis Control and used by national disease
control programs throughout the African continent.
38. Since its inception, the Global Fund has made funds
available for countries to conduct OR as part of a broad-
er M&E effort. Countries have the option to include such
research in their proposals or to add OR/IR studies as the
17
SECTION b
METHODS AND MANAGEMENT
FLOWCHART
Section b - METHODS AND MANAGEMENT
The OR/IR Flowchart control programs. This flowchart of OR/IR activities

is outlined below and forms the basis of Section B of
1. Based on a review of experiences and existing this framework. As mentioned, a checklist developed
documents, the core of this framework consists of a from the flowchart was also used to help gather data
flowchart of 16 steps that will lead from conceptual- from OR/IR projects in the field and was thus in part
ization and the design of OR/IR through implemen- validated through these experiences. Note that this
tation into strategies to ensure dissemination and process in not always step-by-step, as several activities
uptake of the findings to improve health and disease may be happening simultaneously.
A Flowchart of the OR/IR Process

I. PLANNING
1. Organize the research group and advisory committee

2. Determine issues or problems to study and frame research questions around these
3. Develop a research proposal to answer OR/IR questions
4. Obtain ethical clearance
5. Identify funding sources and obtain support for OR/IR
6. Establish a budget and financial management procedures
7. Plan for capacity building and technical support
II. IMPLEMENTATION
8. Monitor project implementation and maintain quality

9. Pre-test all research procedures
10. Establish and maintain data management and quality control
11. Explore together with stakeholders interpretations and recommendations arising
from the research findings
III. FOLLOW-THROUGH
12. Develop a dissemination plan

13. Disseminate results and recommendations
14. Document changes in policy and/or guidelines that resulted from the research
15. Monitor changes in the revised program
16. Consider ways of improving the program that can be tested through further research
I. PLANNING PHASE
Step 1: Organize the research group program managers and staff will rarely conduct the
OR themselves, but may contract with a university,
2. At the beginning of planning for OR/IR, the people research institute, NGO or even another unit within
involved in the particular health or disease control a health ministry (e.g., a planning/research unit) to
program need to think carefully about who will carry out the day-to-day research activities. Program
be involved in carrying out the actual research. managers therefore need to identify and choose the
Possibly the first few steps outlined below will be researchers relatively quickly. Depending on national
led by the program people themselves so that regulations, the choosing of a research group may
the OR/IR will be based in real program needs. need to be put up for competitive bid or it may simply
be a matter of requesting a proposal from an experi-
a) Selecting the researchers enced and trusted group.
3. Because of their major work responsibilities,
19
4. An important criterion for choosing an appropriate 6. While the actual research will most likely be con-
research team will likely be the availability of members ducted by a team from a well-known research organi-
with multidisciplinary backgrounds. Since OR/IR deals zation, others will have a valuable perspective on the
with real-life program challenges, researchers may need a practical issues the research is addressing. Since the
mix of backgrounds such as public health management, ultimate aim of the research is to benefit health policy
health behavior change, epidemiology, biostatistics, and programming, and may in fact be tied to improv-
clinical services and laboratory investigation, to name a ing the performance of a specific health or disease
few. As people begin to consider the first step below, the control program, it is important for program manag-
nature of the OR/IR will become clearer and so will the ers/implementers and program beneficiaries/affected
specific research skills needed. people to be kept informed about and involved in the
progress of the research and offer their suggestions.
b) Form an advisory committee or working
group 7. This is not to suggest that major stakeholders actu-
5. After researchers are chosen, the program manag- ally play a role in conducting the research. This may
ers and staff still have an important role to play in the introduce some bias in the results since it may be the
OR/IR to ensure the results meet program needs. A performance of the implementers that is under study.
working relationship between program managers/staff In research - even of the operational or applied kind -
and the researchers must be built. Since OR should be it is still important to maintain objectivity.
a relatively short process, this relationship does not
have to involve establishing a formal group. A simple 8. Advisory committee meetings can be used to up-
advisory committee or working group that consists date committee members and seek their advice about
of five to six people including researchers, program any implementation problems encountered. Toward
managers and if possible, constituencies of people the end of the research the advisory committee can
affected by the issue/problem could meet on a regular play an active role in planning dissemination activities.
basis (e.g., monthly) to ensure that there is ownership
of the results by all concerned parties and that the
results are put to use in a timely fashion. An example
of how researchers and program staff work together
in Nigeria is found in Annex E.
20
Step 2: Determine issues or Level 1: Identifying the Program Implementation

problems to study and frame Problem:
research questions around these At the first level, project staff may know from basic
M&E reports that there is a problem in program
9. The first step in undertaking OR is to identify an performance or service uptake. This information
appropriate research question that will serve to improve helps project staff identify what component of their
the functioning of a health program. Questions ad- program needs to be modified in order to improve
dressed by OR should arise out of the actual implemen- service delivery.
tation of a health or disease control program and should
emerge from discussions with program managers, Level 2: Considering Underlying Reasons:
researchers and clients of the services. OR questions Once the problem has been identified, the next step
should relate to specific challenges faced in implement- is to understand why it is occurring. Once program-
ing and managing health programs such as service mers understand what barriers exist to solving the
delivery or program uptake problems, and should problem identified in level one and why those barri-
thus serve to provide answers that will improve overall ers are occurring, solutions to overcome the problem
program performance. Additionally, it is important to can be proposed.
distinguish between questions that are appropriate for
OR and those that are not. For example, finding out the Level 3: Testing Possible Solutions:
number of people served by a program is not a research A key function of OR is to test and compare potential
issue, but rather should be a part of regular program improvements to existing health services. From
monitoring. personal experience, collaboration with partners and
a review of existing literature, staff and researchers
10. OR/IR questions may be defined at three levels. The can identify potential approaches that may be applied
actual OR/IR may start at different levels depending on to address the problems identified in Levels 1 and 2.
the extent of previous relevant research in the country Two examples of these levels of developing research
on which one can build. questions are found in the following chart.
1. Identifying the health program implementation issue 11. Prior to framing research questions, it is important
or problem, to take into account any research, project reports or as-
sessments which may have previously been conducted
2. Considering underlying reasons for the issue or that might provide insight into research questions.
problem that can be examined through OR, and Conducting a literature review is essential in developing
research questions pertaining to all three levels outlined
3. Proposing possible solutions that can be tested above. In addition to learning what other OR has been
to address the issue or problem. conducted so that efforts are not unnecessarily duplicat-
ed, learning from others’ experience can provide insight
into OR design and provide a foundation on which to
build. For example, a program needs assessment may
have been conducted that documents the extent and
reasons for drug stock-outs in clinics. Based on the
report of the assessment, the problem (level 1) and its
underlying causes (level 2) may already be known and
OR designed for testing possible strategies for improved
program delivery (level 3) can be done. Or, research
emerging from other local groups or universities about
ARV adherence may examine similar research questions,
and these existing resources can be used as a starting
point for suggesting possible problem-solving ap-
proaches that can be tested.
21
Two Examples of Developing the Operations/Intervention Research Questions

Level HIV Malaria
1. Identifying Reports at a health clinic may show that despite Monitoring data from several districts in the
the Problem the presence of a program offering antiretrovi- state/province may show that less than 40 percent
rals (ARVs) to HIV-positive clients, the prevalence of pregnant women who register for prenatal care
of opportunistic infections (OI) such as diarrhea are getting the required two doses of intermittent
and pneumonia among clients has risen. An OR preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp). This
question arising at this stage may be “Why are reflects only those who register. A look at recent
HIV-positive clients experiencing poorer health data from a Demographic and Health Survey
outcomes?” An OR study examining this question (DHS) indicates that, on average, only 70 percent
might discover that HIV-positive clients are not of pregnant women attend prenatal care at least
adhering to their treatment regimens and are twice. This means that the country is far behind
therefore more susceptible to developing other the RBM targets of 80 percent of IPTp by 2010. An
illnesses. OR study might want to find out why women are
not getting this preventive medicine.
2. Considering An OR question at this level may be “Why are Two types of questions may be addressed at
the Reasons HIV-positive clients not adhering to their treat- level two. First, the research team might ask,
ment regimens?” Research might discover that “Why are more pregnant women not attending
clients are not adhering to their regimens for prenatal care?” Secondly, “For those who attend,
several reasons, such as poor communication why are they not getting two doses of IPTp?”
between clients and staff; low-income clients do For the second question, the researchers may
not have enough money to afford transportation discover that women tend to register very late for
to the clinic to refill their prescriptions; clinic their first prenatal care visit and not have time to
hours are too short and clients cannot afford complete two IPTp doses. There may also be lo-
to miss work to visit the clinic during the day; cal beliefs that a pregnant woman should not let
clients are reluctant to visit the clinic because people, including prenatal care staff, know she is
of the perceived stigma associated with seeking pregnant until the pregnancy is really showing.
services there; or clients are discouraged from Others may believe pregnancy is “normal” and
returning to refill their prescriptions because of so there is no rush to register. Finally even if they
frequent drug shortages. attend, there may be shortages of drugs for IPTp.
3. Testing For example, in regards to the barriers to drug At this level the research team in consultation
the Solutions adherence discussed above, one possible solu- with program staff may learn that the issue of
tion to address the problem of drug stock-outs “hiding” the pregnancy may be the major issue,
may be to conduct an in-service training for especially for younger or low-parity women. The
clinic staff to improve drug forecasting. Another group may decide to test two approaches, one
potential solution may be to develop clinic-based based in the clinic and the other in the community.
performance standards that inform the basis for The clinic approach may be to train the health
problem solving among staff. Also, OR could be staff with better interpersonal communication
designed to examine and compare the effective- skills, especially stressing confidentiality and
ness of both of these approaches. combine this with offering prenatal care registra-
tion any day of the week so no one will suspect
a woman is coming because she is in the early
stages of pregnancy. The second approach may to
train older and trusted women in the community
to administer the first does of IPTp in homes.
12. A good place to start a literature review is with PubMed and the “gray” or informal literature (e.g.,
local documentation such as project reports and project documents and reports) is found in Annex C.
university dissertations/theses/projects. To learn more Case studies of OR/IR experiences that can provide
about relevant research conducted elsewhere, one lessons and offer guidance about conducting the
can check Medline or PubMed on the internet, both research are found in the toolkit.
of which can be used to search for relevant reference
materials. An example of how to conduct a search on
22
Step 3: Develop a research

proposal to answer OR/IR Common elements found
questions in a research proposal
13. A research proposal is a document that out- 1. Title page
lines - in as much detail as possible - what the 2. Abstract/summary
research is about, why it is important, how the
3. Statement of research questions and objectives
researchers plan to carry it out and how the re-
4. Statement of purpose, rationale and importance
sults may be used. Sometimes one sees requests
of the research
for proposals that provide a specific preferred
outline that one must follow. Sometimes a group 5. Background information from reports and
develops its own proposal and looks for donors, published articles on what is known about the
foundations and other potential funders. This research problem and how it has been
framework provides an overview of the proposal approached in the past (literature review)
process. Various guidelines and handbooks listed 6. Overview of the study area providing information
in Section C provide more details and should be that is relevant to the problem at hand,
consulted along with guidelines published by the communities involved and the nature of
specific donors and foundations. the health system
7. Description of the intended research team
14. These tools outline different types of studies (membership and capacity) including involvement
that can be broadly grouped into observational of actual program management staff
and experimental. The former may include
8. Ethical considerations and approval processes
surveys while the latter may use an interven-
(see Step 3)
tion and a control group. Observational studies
9. Research methods (Examples of methods are found
may be helpful in identifying the factors that
in several of the resources listed in Section C)
have created bottlenecks to current programs.
Experimental studies are useful for teaching a. Type of study design (cross-sectional, inter-
and comparing different approaches, strate- vention, quasi-experimental, case control,
gies and technologies for disease control. The etc. and whether the approach is qualitative,
decision may partly rest on time and resources. quantitative or mixed)
If a program needs answers to challenges and b. Study population (this could be individuals,
to address bottlenecks in order to reapply for clients, health staff, health facilities, etc.)
continued funding, one might not have time to c. Sampling procedures
conduct a full-scale comparative intervention. d. Key variables under study (related to study
objectives)
15. Listed are some of the common elements
e. Specific data collection instruments linked
found in a research proposal in the general or-
with study variables
der in which they might occur. Remember that
each funding agency usually has its own for- f. Plan for data collection in the field
mat, so the following list is only a suggestion. g. Procedures for data management, entry and
ensuring data quality
h. Possible sources of bias, error and limitations
and means to address these
i. Data analysis plan including some empty/
sample (dummy) tables
10. Plans for dissemination and use of findings
11. Budget for the proposed project (see Step 5)
12. Budget justification
13. List of references for literature cited
23
16. Often researchers are not required to submit

a fully-developed proposal in the first instance. How to apply/submit a “Letter
Some organizations issue calls for “letters of of Intent”
intent” (LOI) that summarize the research idea
in relatively small number of pages (which are Interested groups are invited to submit a letter of intent of
specified in the letter). The box at the right no more than four pages (size A4, font 12pt) outlining the
gives a recent example from a call for LOI by following:
TDR. If the funding agency is impressed with 1. Project title
the LOI, it may ask the researchers to submit a 2. Background and statement of the research question
more detailed proposal. 3. Overall and specific objectives
4. Methods
17. Applying for OR/IR within a Global Fund 5. Estimated budget
grant follows a different process. In the basic 6. Relationship with any ongoing program, research
country proposal for HIV, TB and/or malaria, project, network, any previous research experience with
CCMs are encouraged to include plans for OR/ CDI and network
IR as part of the M&E component of the pro- 7. Proposed principal investigator, research institution and
study team.
posal. In general, countries provide a couple
of paragraphs in the proposal that explain the Letters of intent can be submitted in English or French
potential needs for OR/IR and outline some of (submissions in French should include a summary in Eng-
the ideas they have based on the challenges lish). A CV of the principal investigator should be attached.
that are currently facing their programs. After Letters of Intent must be submitted no later than …
the grant has been awarded to a country and a
Principal Recipient (PR) has been chosen, more
specific negotiations start in terms of planning the OR/ the study so that they can voluntarily make an informed
IR and identifying the research team or institution. Ide- choice whether or not to participate. As part of the
ally OR/IR within a Global Fund grant will help overcome proposal, researchers need to spell out the details of
implementation bottlenecks and test interventions that how they will explain research procedures and risks to
can improve program (and thereby grant) performance. potential participants and obtain evidence (a signature,
a mark) that participants agree to take part in the
research. Most organizations that fund research require
Step 4: Obtain ethical clearance not only that the researchers spell out these procedures,
but that researchers show evidence of having gotten
18. Any research that studies human beings - whether approval for these procedures. Note that consent forms
they are community members or health workers - may must be written in a language that research participants
put those people at risk. Most OR/IR activities will can understand.
involve human beings who are receiving various health
and disease control services. Researchers may be simply 20. Most research institutions in particular have an
asking people to answer questions on a questionnaire or “institutional review board” (IRB) or a “committee on
during a focus group, or they may be asking participants human subjects” that reviews and approves the ethical
to take different medicines or to provide blood or urine and safety issues surrounding a research proposal
samples. The latter are said to be more “invasive” and before it can be implemented. Many countries have
have a greater potential for harm than the former. Even a national IRB also, which can undertake review for
with “simple” interviews there are costs involved, such government agencies and other organizations that
as time of the respondent and risks involved in sharing do not have their own IRBs. Some funding agencies
personal information with a stranger (the interviewer). require this ethical approval prior to considering the
proposal. One needs to contact an IRB and follow
19. In all cases, researchers must be sure that the po- their procedures to ensure that the OR/IR procedures
tential for risk and harm is known and minimal and that are approved. Examples of a consent forms and IRB
procedures are set in place to explain the potential risk checklists are found in Annex D.
in easily-understandable terms to the people included in
24
Step 5: Identify funding sources and links with the goals of the broader grant and meets any
obtain support for OR/IR criteria specified by the granting organization.
21. Funding for OR/IR may come from different sourc- 23. This does not stop a group or agency from develop-
es. The Global Fund encourages countries to include ing an OR/IR proposal and checking with other poten-
ideas for OR/IR within their proposals to the Global tial funders who might be interested. One needs to do a
Fund and has an OR checklist on its website under the thorough search of the types of foundations and donors
technical resources for proposal writing. TDR advertises who might fund the idea – e.g., find out who funds HIV/
new grant announcements on its website. Pharmaceu- AIDS studies at the community level. This will require
tical companies and others who produce disease con- talking to various donor agencies in the country to learn
trol products often offer small grants for OR/IR in the about their interests and priorities. The first step is often
countries where they work. Foundations ranging from sending a potential foundation, donor or funding agen-
the more established (Rockefeller) to the newer (Gates) cy a short letter of intent that briefly describes the in-
list grant opportunities on their websites (see Annex B). tended project. If the funder is interested, they may ask
It is usually the case that most research funders have for a more detailed proposal.
an established agenda and often do not accept unso-
licited proposals not falling within their agenda, which
can change from year to year. Bilateral donors often set Step 6: Establish a budget and
aside a small amount of funds for OR/IR related to the financial management procedures
implementation of programs they are assisting in order
to make these relevant to the countries concerned. 24. Funding agencies will expect that the researchers
will have devised a comprehensive budget and can
22. Specifically, if one is in the process of preparing for justify the need for each item. Since researchers are
a large donor grant, one should check out the provi- planning OR, researchers may have budget items that
sion and requirements for OR/IR in that particular grant. relate to the research itself as well as to any program-
Make sure that the actual instructions are read carefully ming activities that are being tested. The chart below
and followed to ensure that the OR/IR request actually outlines some of these cost/budget items. Guides and
Illustrative Examples of Budget Items for Operations Research

Implementation or
Research Costs Program Costs Institutional Costs
• Personnel* including staff, field workers, • Educational materials for clients and Most research institutes and
research assistants, data managers, community members universities have what are known as
etc. as well as consultants who could • Funds for mobilization overhead costs. These cover their basic
provide short-term technical support • Job aids for health-care staff operating costs ranging from electricity
• Supplies and materials including • Training programs for to support staff, but are difficult to
printing of study instruments (e.g., implementers itemize directly in a research budget.
questionnaires), notepads, pens, etc. • Commodities needed for intervention
• Equipment such as computer, print- (bed nets, medicines, test kits, Most institutions have a standard
er, tape recorder (for interviews) – some etc.) which are not already being overhead charge that is a certain
funding agencies may limit the type provided by the existing program percentage of the total costs of
of equipment running the research (i.e., those
• Travel or transportation including items in the first two columns).
hiring of vehicles, taxi fare, fueling of
available vehicles, vehicle maintenance Some donors do not pay for overhead
• Per diems or travel allowances for project costs. They see these as part of “local
staff are usually part of the travel budget contribution” to the research effort. Be
• Dissemination costs including renting sure to check the donor requirements
of halls for seminars, purchase of before including overhead costs.
media time or space, production of
briefing sheets
*Some agencies that fund research will pay a reasonable percentage of the normal salary of the actual researchers, while others will pay
researchers’ travel costs and per diems but expect that their time (salary) be “donated” as part of the research institution’s contribution to
the project. Check budget guidelines for any funding agency very carefully before including any item listed above.
25
manuals in the Toolkit (Section C) provide more details 27. One must balance the need for longer-term
and examples. institutional capacity development with the immedi-
ate need to acquire the skills and capacity to conduct
25. Any research project should include on its administra- OR now. This is because OR tries to answer the
tive staff a financial officer (accountant). This is usually a near-term questions that will make a health or disease
person already on the research institution’s staff and a rea- control program function better. For example, some
sonable portion of this person’s salary is included in the programs receive annual or mid-term reviews on their
budget. The financial officer keeps track of expenditures performance. Results from OR may be needed to
and reports regularly to the team. The funding agency provide evidence that the program has gained knowl-
may also require an independent audit of project expen- edge to overcome the difficulties it faces in achieving
ditures. results so that funding can be continued. Therefore
capacity-building plans should not consider sending
people off to another country for a five-year doctorate
program but rather find ways to help those involved
in the project right now do their jobs better.
28. Researchers can consider appropriate short-term

capacity-building mechanisms such as mentoring
by senior researchers, direct experience (on-the-job
training) for researchers and staff through the actual
implementation of the OR project or organizing short
courses that might last no more than a month. These
activities need to be planned in advance and may
have costs that need to be included in the budget.
29. Technical assistance or support can be another

way to build capacity. One can budget for experts/
consultants in a particular aspect of OR to work with
the research team for short periods of time. The
consultants would be expected to pass on their skills
to the research team so that the team can complete
this project and be in a better position to undertake
similar research in the future. For example, the team
may not have much experience in managing and
analyzing data (either quantitative or qualitative).
There may be a person from another university or
even NGO in the country or in a neighboring country
Step 7: Plan for capacity building who could come to work with the team during the
and technical support data collection process to help them develop and
implement the procedures for data management and
26. Capacity building for OR means ensuring that all teach team members to use both manual techniques
persons involved in carrying out the research have the and computer software to analyze their data.
skills and knowledge necessary to perform their roles.
These people might range from staff at the institu-
tion responsible for the research to the interviewers,
field workers and other assistants they hire or health
workers in the facilities where new health and disease
control interventions are being tested and community
members who may take part in delivering and moni-
toring services at the grass-roots level.
26
II. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE • Indication of expected date of completion of

the activity
30. In implementation - as in planning - there is a need • Indication of responsible person/s for each activity
to continue to involve key program managers, staff and • Indication of important milestones for each activity
communities in the process (e.g., through the advisory
committee) to ensure that the OR/IR remains based 34. Regular progress meetings are needed among the
in and addresses the needs of the health or disease research team members to ensure that the research
control program. plan is being implemented as intended. If problems
arise, the team can make timely decisions to correct
31. It is quite possible that during the process of these. During implementation, the research team
developing and formulating the research questions probably needs to meet on a weekly basis.
the team found that in fact cultural issues were among
the reasons that health and disease control programs 35. It is important to stress again that monitoring of
were experiencing difficulties. Therefore, one needs the research should also be done as part of regular
to be sensitive to gender, social and cultural issues team meetings. Since OR is a relatively short-term
when implementing the research. For example, in activity, meetings to report on progress may need to
some places women feel more comfortable talking to be held weekly or at least monthly. The team will likely
other women, and if the issue concerns something like have weekly meetings and then report to the advisory
pregnancy and reproductive health, women might committee on a monthly basis.
be more comfortable talking with other women who
have been pregnant before. This understanding could 36. One aspect of monitoring is ensuring that the
guide selection of research staff and determine how action or work plan is progressing according to the
they interact with people in the field. desired timetable and that expenditures are also
adequate and timely. Other specific details that must
be addressed at different stages of the research are
Step 8: Monitor project outlined below. Ideally the team would want to report
implementation and maintain quality regularly to the funding or oversight group and the
health/disease program implementers to ensure they
32. A key issue of quality control in research is maintaining are carried along. The items below can form a moni-
fidelity (faithfulness) to implementation of the research as toring checklist.
planned. Once a proposal has been accepted for fund-
ing it is important for the team to develop a research During preparation ensure that:
protocol that spells out in detail the steps to be taken • Adequate numbers of research instruments are
in implementing the project, ranging from sampling printed/prepared in advance of field work
procedures to staff preparation, instrument development, • Equipment and supplies are purchased
data collection procedures, field work procedures, data • Field staff are recruited, interviewed, selected
management processes and reporting standards, to name and trained
a few. More information can be found in the reference • Data entry formats are designed and data entry
guides and handbooks listed in the Toolkit (Section C). staff are recruited and trained
One role of the small advisory committee can be regularly • Logistical arrangements (e.g., transportation)
checking that the protocol procedures are being fol- for fieldwork are arranged
lowed correctly and in a timely manner. • Key persons in the field are notified and their
concurrence obtained (health staff, community
33. The research team must have a plan of action or work leaders)
plan. The plan can include the following components:
During implementation ensure that:
• A comprehensive listing of all activities to be • Community members, agency staff, and other
implemented respondents/informants are actually responding
• Indication of date of commencement for each • Field staff are punctual and enthusiastic about
activity their work
27
• Funds are adequate and provided in a timely instruments under the type of circumstances where
manner (keep an eye on the budget) they will be used in the field, possibly in a different
• Materials and instruments needed for each day’s community not within the study area with similar
activities are adequate and provided in a timely characteristics to the study community.
manner
• Logistics are functioning to ensure that field staff 38. Instruments may be available from similar studies
can move around from the same country or from other countries in
• Data quality is maintained through daily review the region. It certainly saves time to adapt available
of instruments completed research tools, but if these were developed in a
• Data entry/transcription begins within 24 hours of different environment or focused on a different health
data collection in order to provide timely feedback issue, the adapted product still needs to be pre-tested
if data quality problems are observed in the relevant environment.
During wrap-up and analysis ensure that: 39. One aspect of the pre-testing is to ensure that
• A clear data-analysis plan is in place including the instruments are formatted in a language that the
mock/dummy tables, charts respondents can understand. Translation and back
• A report outline is ready and agreed upon by all translation are needed to ensure that the concepts
• There is agreement about analysis procedures, and variables as expressed in a local language match
statistical tests and software those that the researchers intended. The instruments
• Preliminary analysis is reviewed by the team should be written using translated questions and
before final analysis items so that each data collector is consistent in
• Findings are reviewed by researchers and administering the instrument.
stakeholders to come up with interpretations
and suggestions for action 40. If there is a survey, one might pre-test 10 to 20
questionnaires with people with similar characteristics
During dissemination ensure that: to those who will be included in the full study. One
• Key audiences have been identified could try a few in-depth interviews and a couple of
• Preferred methods and media for reaching each FGDs to see whether people respond appropriately.
audience are ascertained Ideally with qualitative interviews (FGDs, in-depth
• Briefings, presentations are prepared and reviewed interviews, etc.) it is helpful to both tape-record and
• Briefings, presentations are scheduled and take handwritten notes. Remember to clear the use of
delivered tape recording as part of the ethical review process.
• Follow-up is done to ensure commitment to
utilizing results to improve programs, policies 41. The pre-testing process should help identify
• Program managers and researchers monitor questions that are misunderstood or difficult to com-
implementation of findings prehend. The pre-test may identify questions where
everybody gives the same or similar answer with no
variety. One might see that mothers respond affirma-
Step 9: Pre-test all research tively concerning use of health services but are unable
procedures to show their child’s growth charts and immunization
card. One might be trying to observe drugs kept at
37. Research instruments, whether quantitative (ques- home for malaria but find that no one admits to keep-
tionnaires, observation checklists) or qualitative (FGDs, ing these. These are examples of problems that raise
in-depth interviews) should be both valid and reliable. an alarm and indicate that certain questions or items
Valid instruments elicit the “truth” from respondents. should be dropped or changed. If major changes are
Reliable instruments provide consistent information. made, a second pre-test may be needed.
If questions are vague and use complicated language
or if checklists seek items that are difficult to observe, 42. Two groups of people can be involved in the
then they may not achieve the aims of validity and pre-testing process to strengthen their skills and
reliability. It is therefore necessary to test out the contributions to the research project. One group is
28
the actual interviewers and field assistants. As part of explain, for example, health service utilization behav-
their training they can be involved in the pre-testing. ior, more complex (and expensive) software may be
The second group is the data management staff. They required. The research institution may already have
will gain insights into the nature and the quality of the a license to use these software programs or the cost
data to help them develop the most appropriate data may need to be added to the budget.
entry formats and analysis procedures.
47. Qualitative software helps code and sort informa-
tion in typed transcripts. Qualitative software does
Step 10: Establish and maintain not replace the need for the researchers to thor-
data management and quality oughly read all available data. There is always the
control basic and reliable option of hand coding and analysis
where no software packages or software competen-
43. Quality data management begins with the design cies exist. Research teams must develop analysis plans
of the research instruments. As noted above, these showing clearly how the data will be analyzed and
need to be pre-tested to ensure that they elicit rea- for example, develop “content analysis tables” that
sonable and truthful responses. Review by colleagues clearly show/compare views of all respondents by all
and experts who compare the instruments against relevant quotations on all the key study variables.
the research questions and objectives is needed to
ensure that the data collected actually corresponds to 48. Data entry (computer entry of survey results,
with variables that should be studied. In short, one typing of interview transcripts) should begin while
needs to ensure that the study variables are opera- data collectors are still in the field. Data entry clerks
tionalized to reflect the objectives of the study. should be trained on the job with actual completed
instruments. In the process of entering data, the data
44. The instruments must be easy for the data col- clerks are likely to identify additional problems, and
lectors to use. Ambiguities for both respondents and if data collection is still going on in the field, they
data collectors should be removed. Well-supervised can send these instruments back for clarification and
training of data collectors in real-life field conditions correction before it is too late. As a reminder, ensure
is required to ensure that all use the instrument that all needed equipment and supplies for data
accurately and in the same way. management are included in the budget.
45. During field work, research supervisors should 49. Some quantitative data entry programs like EpiInfo
be trained to observe the data collectors regularly. allow for double entry and/or a checkfile that limits
Senior researchers must be in the field to ensure entries to accepted values and compares entries. If
that the data collectors take the project seriously. double entry is not feasible, then it is possible
The research supervisors need to review all study to spot some problems when running simple frequen-
instruments at the end of each day (questionnaires, cies where inappropriate values may become apparent.
FGD transcripts, in-depth interview transcripts, Concerning typed transcripts of qualitative interviews,
observational checklists, etc.) for completeness and one can have the interviewer/moderator review and
accuracy. Before field work begins the next day the compare these with the hand-written versions.
supervisors - together with members of the research
team - should organize a short feedback session with 50. Missing values should be caught at all stages –
the data collectors to discuss general concerns about daily review, data entry, and simple frequency analy-
data quality. After this, individual data collectors can sis. One should be sure there are no missing values
meet with supervisors for personal feedback. because one never knows whether a blank means
that the question was not asked or that the person
46. The team should consider software needs for data did not respond or that the interviewer forgot to fill
entry. If one is going to be doing simple quantitative in the response. Missing information may occur in
analysis that involves frequencies and tests of associa- both qualitative and quantitative instruments due to
tion, EpiInfo Version 6 may be adequate. If one plans oversight. For example, FGD moderators may forget
to test multiple associations and develop a model to to ask a follow-up probe.
29
Step 11: Explore together with of findings/conduct of study. The study may have
stakeholders interpretations and found that there are respected women’s associations
recommendations arising from the in the community that were crucial in selecting and
research findings supporting the community volunteers. These now
become stakeholders in the future success of IPTp
51. The next phase, the “follow-through”, involves program coverage. Another finding may have pointed
the actual dissemination and use. Prior to dissemina- to the role of something like a public service com-
tion it is important for the research team and the mission that is responsible for staff placement and
stakeholders (e.g., community leaders, program man- promotion. It may be the actions of this group in
agers/staff, donors) who were members of the project frequently transferring staff that made it difficult for
advisory committee or working group to review the health workers to develop a trusting relationship with
results and have a clear and shared understanding of community members. Reaching out to these “new”
the implications of these findings. stakeholders with the appropriate messages should
be considered by the committee/group.
52. The first meeting about the findings should occur
within a week after data entry is finished and a set of
preliminary frequency tables or qualitative interview
summaries can be produced. The group can pick out
the highlights and make suggestions for further analy-
sis. For example, the study may have documented that
only 25 percent of women in the community got two
doses of IPTp during their last pregnancy. FGD respon-
dents explained that younger and older women are
most likely to register late. The data management team
could then compare age with IPTp coverage to pres-
ent at the next meeting. If the project also addressed
alternative delivery mechanisms and found that, in
communities where local volunteers were used, it was
the volunteers who got women started on IPTp, then,
rather than programs to improve interpersonal com-
munication and confidentiality at clinics, the group
might ask the data team to provide more information
from the in-depth interviews to explain why women
preferred the community volunteer approach.
53. By the second meeting, the group should start listing

the key findings and the related implications for improv-
ing the program. They can brainstorm about appropriate
audiences with whom to share this information in a timely
manner. Feedback to communities is essential, as seen in
the Malawi case study on TB in Section C. The group can 55. As a final step, the group should start assigning
then agree on recommendations and final messages that responsibilities for follow-up actions. The group can
are appropriate to each group. The group should some begin to outline the budget needs for packaging and
up with a road map that leads from findings to action, sharing the findings.
that is, a step-by-step plan of whom to contact and how
to approach them.
54. An important consideration is reviewing the key

stakeholders that can act on the information and
recommendations. These may have changed in light
30
III. FOLLOW-THROUGH PHASE This research program seeks to have a significant

impact on the future of TB control in several
56. Those who provide financial and technical support countries. In order to achieve this objective, the
for OR/IR, including national stakeholders, are con- program includes a stakeholder and political
cerned about the long-term effects of that research. analysis, and beyond publication in international
They want to ensure that something happens as a peer-reviewed journals, dissemination efforts will
result of the research that will have a lasting and target those individuals and institutions that
beneficial effect on health programs. “Three decades’ will have the most impact on local and national
experience with OR projects [in reproductive health TB policy.
and in TDR] shows that OR can effect lasting changes
in programs and in some cases findings also can result Dissemination plans for external audiences may
in policy changes. Collaboration with policy-makers, include:
provisions for sustainability, and responsiveness to lo- • Annual presentation of research findings at national
cal needs are among the ways of ensuring sustainabil- and international conferences
ity of program changes that result from OR” (WHO, • Publication of research findings in national and
2003). This section outlines steps to take the results international peer-reviewed journals
from research to practice and policy and hopefully • Meetings with local and national stakeholders to
longer-term change in program quality. discuss research findings
• Use of videotaped life histories of patients in
advocacy work with the permission of interviewed
Step 12: Develop a dissemination plan subjects
• Regular reports to the funding agency (e.g., TDR
57. Dissemination activities must be matched to key requires annual reports)
audiences, including policy-makers, program manag- • Press releases and briefings
ers, service providers, program beneficiaries and
donors (Marin and Bertrand, 2003). In planning dis- 59. The public media is often of equal importance to
semination, researchers need to distinguish between professional channels (peer-reviewed journals) because
“internal” and “external” audiences. Researchers can OR should result in programs that are more accessible
make the following distinctions when planning to and acceptable to the public.
disseminate the findings:
60. Dobbins et al. (2007) examined the issue of
 Using the results focused on one set of people – knowledge dissemination from the viewpoint of agen-
an “internal” audience cy and program managers who are potential users of
OR. They found four dissemination approaches pre-
• Approach those who can directly and ferred by over 90 percent of their respondents (peo-
immediately act on the knowledge and ple from a variety of public and NGO agencies). These
lessons generated four were 1) conferences/workshops, 2) short summa-
• Recognize that the main purpose is to use the ries, 3) colleagues and 4) professional journals. Even
information though this study took place in Canada, the respon-
dents were least interested in internet/web-based dis-
 Sharing the results looking at a broader set of semination approaches.
people – an ”external” audience
61. Regardless of audience (internal, external) the
• Approach those who might adapt the team needs to think about the advocacy process.
information This entails determining who has the best “voice” to
• Address those who may have general interest promote the results with the audience most likely to
act on the findings. While the research team is in the
58. TDR (2005) provides a good example of a simple best position to disseminate and explain their actual
dissemination plan for a TB OR project: findings, they may not “have the ear” of important
decision-makers. Sometimes program managers
31
and policy-makers are more likely to listen to citizen 66. The International Food Policy Research Institute
groups. Sometimes respected former national leaders (Loechl, 2005) describes a personalized process for
are good advocates. There may be key journalists or disseminating the results of a child nutrition program
media personalities who have good experiences in in Haiti. Structured feedback was provided.
promoting certain health and related issues. Identify-
ing and involving the most effective advocacy voice The results of this first round of OR were presented
must be part of the dissemination plan. in Haiti and discussed with the program staff. A
one-and-a-half-day meeting was held to identify
and prioritize potential solutions to address the
Step 13: Disseminate results and operational constraints identified and to develop a
recommendations plan of action to implement corrective actions to
strengthen program operations and improve the
62. Dissemination itself involves carrying out quality of service delivery. The tools used to guide
the suggested steps and activities as planned. this process and the action plans agreed upon by
The research team needs to involve the advisory the … staff are presented in the final section of [the]
committee as mentioned. An important role of the report. A second round of OR will be conducted …
committee is serving as a reality check. Marin and to monitor the implementation of the corrective
Bertrand (2003) ask, “Were results of the OR study measures and to document improvements in
judged to be credible/valid in the local context?” program operations.
This question, they say, “refers to the judgment of
stakeholders (policy-makers, researchers, donors,
program managers). It is assumed that utilization Step 14: Document changes in
of results would be limited if stakeholders seriously policy and/or guidelines that resulted
questioned the validity of the results.” from the research
63. They also ask, “Was the research relevant for the 67. Marin and Bertrand (2003) encourage OR
national program?” The answer is “based on the teams to ask, “Did the implementing/collaborating
perceptions of the same stakeholders listed above. organization(s) “act on” the results (i.e., continue to
Relevant research addresses a priority problem of the implement the activities tested in the OR study after
program, whether a national program of the Ministry its completion if effective or not implement/discon-
of Health or a more local program of an NGO.” tinue this activity if ineffective)?”
64. Issues like timing, venue and opportunity need to 68. They explain that “ “acting on the results” consists
be considered. There are several elements to timing, of implementing the actual services of the intervention
including presenting the results after the research has or the activities to support those services (e.g., training
been fully concluded. Early results may be misleading courses, development of service delivery guidelines,
and create false expectations. The presentation of changes in allocation of personnel, production and
results also needs to be timed for when it is most testing of IEC materials, supervision, monitoring) if
likely to be used. If a country completes its budgeting the intervention was effective, or not implementing
process in June or a donor requires that renewal or discontinuing these services and activities if the
proposals for a grant are due in July, it does little good intervention proved not to be effective.”
to present the results in August.
65. Dissemination must take into consideration the

convenience of the audience/stakeholders. Staff from
the Ministry of Health may be reluctant to attend a
meeting at the university campus some miles away.
Hold an event in the ministry auditorium.
32
Step 15: Monitor changes in the

revised program
69. At this point, responsibilities for the research

results pass back to the program managers and
stakeholders, although the researchers may still have
a role to play. It is incumbent on the program to use
its existing M&E mechanisms (Health Management
Information Systems) to report on key indicators
that show whether the changes were effective on
the larger scale, in particular if the OR/IR was carried
out to address a program performance bottleneck,
and the suggested changes in policy and procedures
have been implemented.
70. For example, an OR field test may have found

that in several communities, distribution of ITNs
by community-chosen volunteers achieved greater
coverage and use than campaigns based at the
district health facilities. If the national malaria con-
trol program adopted and implemented this new
approach, one would want to monitor whether in
fact after scale-up the coverage increased uniformly
across the country. The original OR team could still
be involved in conducting coverage and use surveys
around the country, even though this activity would
be part of routine M&E activities.
Step 16: Consider ways of

improving the program that can be
tested through further research
71. The above example about changing the ITN
distribution strategy provides a good example also
of how monitoring the results of implementing one
set of research findings may lead to new research
questions. The regular program monitoring surveys
just mentioned may find that in most areas of the
country ITN coverage and use did, in fact, increase
and reach program targets. Unfortunately, the
surveys might have found that in a riverine/coastal
area or among a group of primarily nomad people
the new strategy did not work any better than the
previous campaign approach. This finding raises new
OR/IR questions and can start the OR/IR process over
again with a new focus. Program improvement is an
ongoing process.
33
SECTION c
CASE STUDIES, TOOLKIT, RESOURCES
and REFERENCES
Section c - RESOURCES and REFERENCES
1. This section consists of three parts. The first part offers two additional case studies supplied by attendees of
the consultative meeting/workshop on OR/IR that reviewed the first draft of this document. The second section
offers links to a sample of existing handbooks, guidelines, and other reference materials that can help people
plan OR/IR. Finally there is a brief list of references to materials quoted in Sections A and B.
Selected Case Studies of Operations

Research
Malawi: Linking Civil Society with Care Intervention Developed

for Tuberculosis 6. Based on the suggestions from the community,
REACH Trust then developed the intervention, “Linking
2. An OR study was conducted by the Research for Civil Society with TB Care” to bring TB services closer
Equity and Community Health (REACH) Trust to ex- to the people. A main objective of this program was to
plore barriers experienced by the poor in one squatter reduce transport and opportunity costs incurred by the
area in the capital city of Malawi, Lilongwe. Although poor in the area in order to improve use of TB services.
TB services are free at the point of delivery, it was The project was funded by the Norwegian Association
found that the poor incur much higher transport and of Heart and Lung Patients.
opportunity costs than the non-poor.
“Mtsiliza Model”
Feedback to the researched 7. Community leaders suggested that a sputum collec-
3. Researchers are always concerned with data owner- tion center be created and village volunteers - four from
ship but the question of ownership of the problem(s) each of the four villages - were identified. A TB Coordi-
identified through research is seldom thought about; nating Committee for the area was put in place and each
REACH Trust went back to the community to make the of the 12 community-based organizations (CBOs) chose
findings known. Stakeholders at community level and TB care delivery component(s) to integrate into their pro-
local leaders were briefed about the research findings. grams. REACH Trust briefed local leaders and the coor-
dinating committee on basic facts about TB and trained
Problem ownership and source of solution the volunteers on all aspects of recording and handling
4. After the main research findings were communi- of sputa specimens from suspects. REACH also provided
cated to the community in simple, understandable bicycles for transporting sputa specimens to and results
fashion, the local village chiefs understood the prob- from a diagnostic facility. Only then would identified TB
lem of TB in their community and asked, “So how are cases travel to the TB registry to enroll for treatment.
you going to help us?” This question was particularly
pertinent because, despite a local population exceed- 8. Encouraging problem “ownership” and including the
ing 32,000 people, there was no public health facility community in proposing and enacting solutions has
in the area. Furthermore, 24 percent of the population been an integral component of ensuring the acceptabil-
lived in extreme poverty. ity and sustainability of the intervention. The “Mtsiliza
model” has been such a success that the Ministry of
5. In resource-poor settings such as a squatter commu- Health and the national TB program are now scaling it
nity in Lilongwe, it can be difficult to provide novel so- up to all regions of Malawi in order to intensify TB case
lutions to effectively reach communities. Infrastructure detection and provide universal access to TB care. The
is costly and human resource scarcity poses a critical capacity to identify problems and promote solutions has
problem. REACH Trust posed the question to the com- been increased in the community, and TB care is now
munity in order to include their views and opinions well integrated into other health services delivered by
about how to solve their problem. Such dialogue with CBOs.
the communities is critical if service delivery programs
are to be improved and designed appropriately to Source: EQUI-TB Knowledge Program/National TB
meet the needs of each unique setting. Program, Lilongwe, Malawi www.reachtrust.org
35
Burkina Faso: Examining Treatment ers witnessed a “therapeutic grazing” that led some
and Care Practices for People Living patients from one sector to another according to the
with HIV/AIDS availability of support or aid. Caregivers were unsuc-
cessful at understanding or controlling these multiple
9. In Burkina Faso, CBOs and NGOs were the first to recourses.
set up HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and counseling
and psychosocial support for people living with HIV. 10. In response to this issue, a research project entitled
When antiretroviral treatment (ART) became avail- “Treatment and care practices for people living with
able at the end of the 1990s, the same organizations HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso” was proposed. Its aim was to
opened medical facilities and started providing global get a precise knowledge of actual care practices in vari-
care with the support of many foreign funding agen- ous settings, in order to understand patients’ behaviors
cies and local donors. In 2005, various care practices and needs and harmonize the provision of care. The
co-existed within the context of the National Pro- main issues that were explored and treated included:
gramme for ART. Thus, caregivers as well as program circumstances of testing and provision of counseling in
supervisors had little knowledge about the type of three sectors; access to various types of care and factors
care provided in all facilities, the distribution of the influencing selection; care practices; patients’ follow-up;
people living with HIV between the public, private factors of adherence to ART; prevention; caregivers’
and CBO/NGO sectors, the profile of populations attitudes towards professional risk; collaboration and
treated and the reasons for their choice of a health coordination between health-care facilities.
facility amongst various options. Moreover, caregiv-
36
The chosen approach was based on three phases: different as expected by health professionals, but were,
rather, complementary to global care and used as such
• The first phase was devoted to a situation analysis by patients. Practices in private health facilities, on the
and review of sources that allowed priority-setting other hand, were very difficult to study due to patients’
through a multistakeholders consultation through and caregivers’ reluctance to participate in the study,
an advisory committee. and are still beyond the reach of collaboration efforts. An
important result was the extent of difficulties in access
• During the second phase, a multidisciplinary study to care for patients living in rural areas due to the lack of
was held by a team composed of two public health CBOs and NGOs. After the study, a national conference
institutes and members of people living with HIV/ was planned to tackle the issue of free access to HIV
AIDS (PLWHA) organizations as well as the national global care for PLWHA in Burkina Faso.
AIDS program. After fieldwork based on interviews
with patients and caregivers, observation, collec- 13. The process of conducting this OR brought together
tion of documents, followed by data analysis, the various stakeholders and provided them with an oppor-
study produced quantitative and qualitative results tunity to share individual and collective experiences, as
on a range of issues which were discussed by the well as to discuss practical or strategic issues. This ability
advisory committee. to exchange experiences, increase collaboration and
build capacity was as important for project outcomes as
• The third phase was participative. The most the results of the study.
relevant results and a synthesis of objective and
felt needs were selected. Three two-day work- Source: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé,
shops were held with stakeholders (caregivers Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso
from private, public and NGO sectors, PLWHA
associations, policy-makers, program managers)
in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. The results
were presented, then groups were allocated
priority topics on which a detailed discussion
allowing experience-sharing provided concrete
recommendations. A final report was produced by
the research team.
11. The study approach was multidisciplinary, the

aspects involved being socio-cultural as well as eco-
nomical and related to the functionality of services and
institutional organization. Through the ongoing involve-
ment of the advisory committee that provided scientific
and institutional guidance, this approach ensured a
broad ownership of the research. The participation of
more than 45 stakeholders during workshops and the
opportunity they found to discuss their practices using
the insight from the study results allowed the team to
shorten the usually-long delay between the production
of results and their reaching of target actors.
12. The difficulties encountered were mainly the large

amount of information collected that required an im-
portant amount of work for analysis and publication and
several delays due to administrative reasons that jeopar-
dized the process. The results showed that care practices
amongst public facilities and CBOs or NGOs were not as
37
Operations Research This is a resource for HIV/AIDS researchers that can be

Resource Toolkit used to inform research design and proposal develop-
ment. Organized chapter by chapter like a proposal,
Being a framework, this document has not gone into all it gives users the tools to develop and write a detailed
the details involved in designing and conducting OR/ OR proposal. By reviewing many key concepts and
IR. There are a variety of existing guidelines and hand- methods essential for conducting HIV/AIDS field
books that provide full guidance on selecting research research studies, the handbook also helps program
methods and explain the different methods available. administrators and health policy-makers understand
Some provide more explicit steps in planning a budget how OR works and how to use research findings to
or writing a proposal. Several of these resources for improve HIV/AIDS service delivery.
conducting OR/IR are listed in the first sub-section
below. Each item includes the title, an abstract of the Available at http://www.popcouncil.org/horizons/
major contents of the material and a web link to use for orhivaidshndbk.html
obtaining a full copy. The second sub-section outlines
some more practical examples of OR/IR as well as refer-
ence articles that discuss OR/IR issues. There are links Fisher, A. A., J. E. Laing, et al. (1991). Handbook for
included so that readers can obtain their own copies Family Planning Operations Research Design. New York,
of the materials. Again, this section is not exhaustive, Population Council.
but only illustrative. Even if a specific disease control
or health program concerned is not mentioned, it is This handbook is specifically designed to help health
still possible to adapt these guidelines and examples to and family planning researchers develop and write
help plan OR/IR for the issues of greatest concern. a detailed OR proposal. It is also intended to help
program administrators and managers understand
Operations Research Handbooks the process of OR and the uses of research findings
and Assorted Resources for service delivery and improvement. The handbook
also provides a review of key concepts and important
de Savigny, D., H. Kasale, et al. (2004). Fixing methods essential to conducting field OR studies.
Health Systems Ottawa, International Development
Research Center. Available at http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/frontiers/
Capacity_Bldg/HbkFPOR.pdf
In 1993, the World Development Report suggested
that mortality rates could be significantly reduced
if resources were directed more in line with local Marin, M. C. and J. T. Bertrand (2003). Evaluation
“burden of disease”. The Tanzania Essential Health Manual: Evaluating Operations Research Utilization:
Interventions Project (TEHIP) was founded to test this Guidelines for Assessing Process and Impact. Washington,
idea. After a decade of research and experience, the DC, Population Council, FRONTIERS Program.
verdict is in: the idea is solid, and has produced some
remarkable results. This document presents the TEHIP The purpose of this document is to describe an example
story and holds important lessons that can be applied of an evaluation methodology and give detailed
widely throughout the countries of the developing instructions on its implementation. It is intended for
world and beyond. use primarily by FRONTIERS project monitors, who will
be conducting the evaluations. It covers information
Available at www.idrc.ca/openebooks/155-8/ pertaining to the implementation of an evaluation plan,
evaluation indicators and a final report.
Fisher, A. A., J. R. Foreit, et al. (2002). Designing HIV/AIDS Available at http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/frontiers/

Intervention Studies; An Operations Research Handbook. Evaluation_Manual.pdf
New York, Population Council.
38
Neufeld, V. and N. Johnson, Eds. (2001). Forging Links for analyzing findings and for disseminating the results.
Health Research: Perspectives from the Council on Health The annexes contain useful examples from actual field
Research for Development. Ottawa, IDRC Books. experience.
As part of the lead up to the October 2000 International Available at www.who.int/child_adolescent_health/

Conference on Health Research for Development in documents/9241591366/en/index.html
Bangkok, the Council on Health Research for Develop-
ment (COHRED) called upon its associates around the
world to reflect on achievements and setbacks in the Scrimshaw, N. S. and G. R. Gleason, Eds. (1992). Rapid
1990s. This book is the result of those reflections. Assessment Procedures - Qualitative Methodologies for
Planning and Evaluation of Health Related Programs.
Available at www.idrc.ca/en/ev-9430-201-1-DO_TOPIC. Boston, International Nutrition Foundation for
html Developing Countries.
The 42 chapters on Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP),

Nichter, M., C. S. Acuin, et al. Introducing Zinc in a Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and related approaches deal
Diarrheal Control Program: A Manual for Conducting with research tools that offer strong potential both in
Formative Research. national and international public health and other areas.
These approaches investigate household and individual
This formative research manual summarizes a process health-related behaviors within their complex, rational
for employing qualitative research when introducing a matrix of personal, organizational, and social realities.
new drug, such as zinc, to communities in a clinical trial They search for opinions and attitudes, behavior, and
and evaluating its impact. motivations of both the clients of development pro-
grams and also those who deliver services. These tools
Available at www.popline.org/docs/317374 lead to the type of understanding of both groups that is
essential both to planning and evaluating health, nutri-
tion and other social development programs. A wide
Piwoz, E. G. (2004). What are the Options? Using range of RAP and RRA applications is provided along
Formative Research to Adapt Global Recommendations with insight into the core concepts on which
on HIV and Infant Feeding to the Local Context. Geneva, they rest and the methods that are used.
Department of Child and Adolescent Health and
Development, WHO. This publication can be found for sale through internet
booksellers.
Current recommendations on HIV and infant feeding
suggest that feeding options for HIV-positive moth-
ers should be identified locally through formative Varkevisser, C., I. Pathmanathan, et al. (2003).
research. The purpose of this manual is to provide Designing and Conducting Health Systems Research
program managers, researchers, and policy-makers Projects: Volume 1 Proposal Development and Fieldwork.
with basic guidance on how to conduct local assess- Amsterdam, KIT/IDRC.
ments to establish the range of replacement feeding
options and breast-milk feeding options that are The resource contains 20 modules, of which the first 18
appropriate, sustainable and safe in different contexts. describe all the steps involved in developing a research
Findings from local assessments may be used to proposal. The last two modules provide guidance for
develop national policies and guidelines for health conducting fieldwork and preliminary data analysis. Each
workers, content for training of counselors and for module contains detailed instructions for group work on
BCC strategies to support safer infant feeding prac- the successive steps in the development of a proposal.
tices to prevent HIV infection in infants and young
children. The manual contains general guidelines Available at www.idrc.ca/en/ev-33011-201-1-DO_TOPIC.
and describes a 12-step process to be carried out, html
recommends research methods, gives suggestions for
39
Varkevisser, C., I. Pathmanathan, et al. (2003). Designing OR provides decision-makers with information to en-
and Conducting Health Systems Research Projects: Volume able them to improve the performance of their pro-
2 Data Analyses and Report Writing. Amsterdam, KIT/ grams. The Global Fund believes that OR has an im-
IDRC. portant role to play in the success of the programs it
funds, and strongly encourages proposals with an OR
This publication is meant to be used in combination component. Global Fund-supported programs are rec-
with Volume 1: Proposal Development and Fieldwork. ommended to spend five to ten percent of their grant
Volume 2 consists of 13 training modules that cover budget on M&E, which can include spending on rele-
data analysis, report writing and planning for imple- vant OR.
mentation of recommendations.
Available at www.theglobalfund.org/publications
Available at www.idrc.ca/en/ev-33013-201-1-DO_TOP-
IC.html
WHO/HTM/RBM (2003). Operations Research for Malaria
Control, Learner’s Guide Part 1, WHO.
Werner, A. (2004). 1: An Introduction to
Implementation Research A Guide to Implementation This module is addressed to health personnel respon-
Research. Urban Institute Press. sible for malaria control at national and sub-national
levels of the health-care system. The content of the
Evaluation research provides information that informs module is flexible enough to allow the emphasis to
the effective and efficient use of community resources be placed according to specific training needs while
to promote social goals. This book explores how one informing professionals of the basics and methods of
type of evaluation research - implementation research OR. The module is divided into two parts - the Learner’s
- can assist those designing and operating social Guide covers basic concepts and information together
programs. with a series of problems and hints or partial solutions
to them. The exercises in the Learner’s Guide include
Available at www.urban.org/pubs/implementationre- both individual and group work.
search/chapter1.htm
Available at http://www.who.int/malaria/docs/opera-
tional_research_lg.pdf
WHO (2001). Expanding Capacity for Operations
Research in Reproductive Health: Summary Report of a
Consultative Meeting. Geneva, WHO. WHO/HTM/RBM (2003). Operations Research for Malaria
Control, Tutor’s Guide Part 2, WHO.
The strategic objective of this consultation was to
promote capacity building in OR and to identify ways This module uses a training method based on learning
to increase resources in support of OR. Specifically, the by problem-solving to facilitate the understanding of
consultation sought to create a shared understanding OR in different epidemiological situations. The main
of the definition and benefits of OR, define the need objective of this module is to inform professionals of
for OR capacity building, identify effective strategies for the basics and methods of OR. This will help health
capacity building, develop donor plans for mobilizing workers operating in different epidemiological and
resources for OR capacity building and identify areas socioeconomic circumstances to understand the use
for collaboration. and methods of OR for decision-making, M&E of
malaria control activities. The module is divided into
Available at http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/frontiers/ two parts - the Learner’s Guide Part 1 and the Tutor’s
reports/WHO_expand_capacity.pdf Guide Part 2. The Tutor’s Guide is designed to stimulate
active learning and has been conceived for group work.
WHO/The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria Guide to Operational Research Programs Sup- Available at http://www.who.int/malaria/docs/opera-
ported by the Global Fund. Geneva. tional_research_tg.pdf
40
WHO/TDR (2005). Guidelines for Preparing a Grant Selected Examples of Publications on Opera-
Application to the TDR Steering Committee for tions Research, Translating Research Findings
Implementation Research. into Action and Research Dissemination
These guidelines are intended to assist social science Canadian International Immunization Initiative Phase 2
and public health researchers to apply for collaborative Operation Research Grants: Project Profile.
research grants from the Steering Committee on IR of
the Special Programme for Research and Training in The Canadian International Immunization Initiative was
Tropical Diseases (TDR). The TDR Programme, part of initiated in 1998 to increase and intensify routine im-
WHO’s Programme on Communicable Diseases (CDS), munization for all children of the world. This document
is a lead international partnership/co-sponsorship in provides a project profile for their Phase 2 OR grants.
research, product development and training related to
infectious diseases that disproportionately affect poor Available at www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-
and marginalized populations. S/11237718311CIII2.pdf
Available at http://www.who.int/tdr/grants/workplans/
ir_guidelines.htm Africa_OR/TA_Project_2 (1999). Strengthening
Reproductive Health Services in Africa through Operations
Research. Nairobi, Population Council.
Winch, P., J. Wagman, et al. (2000). Qualitative Research
for Improved Health Programs: A Guide to Manuals for The Africa Operations Research and Technical Assistance
Qualitative and Participatory Research on Child Health, (OR/TA) Project 2 was implemented by the Popula-
Nutrition and Reproductive Health. Washington DC, JHU/ tion Council. The program was supported by USAID
AED/USAID. to provide technical assistance to program managers
and policy-makers to assist them in pilot-testing in-
This guide is designed for program managers, re- novative and alternative strategies when restructuring
searchers, funders of health programs and others who their programs. This report discusses research studies
are considering using qualitative research methods achieved during the project that used social science
to help them design more effective health programs and other research methods to provide decision-makers
and/or evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of with empirically-based and scientifically-valid answers to
existing programs. This guide describes some of the service delivery problems.
existing manuals for conducting qualitative research
on health and provides information to help would-be Available at http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/frontiers/
users select the manuals that are most appropriate to Capacity_Bldg/strengthen%20RH%20in%20Africa.pdf
their needs.
Available at http://sara.aed.org/publications/cross_cut- Barbour, V., P. Chinnock, et al. (2008). From theory to

ting/qualitative/qualitative.pdf practice: translating research into health outcomes.
PLoS Med 5(1): e15.
An editorial discussion about what it takes to imple-

ment actual behavior and policy change resulting from
research findings.
Available at http://medicine.plosjournals.org/
perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.
pmed.0050015
41
CEPROD (2003). Using Data to Improve Service In this descriptive study with a pre- and post-evaluation
Delivery: A Self-Evaluation Approach. of an intervention, community perceptions of fever,
health-seeking behavior and current treatment practices
This guide will help frontline health workers use the data for children were ascertained through qualitative research
collected at health facilities to solve common problems in and surveys in order to inform the feasibility and accept-
service delivery and improve their response to community ability of and the willingness to use artemether-lumefan-
needs. The overall aim of the guide is to promote greater trine (Coartem) for treatment of malaria/fever in children
use of existing service data to improve health services. It aged 6-59 months at the community and household level
does not require the collection of additional data. in a rural malaria-endemic area in Ghana. Study results
suggest that a Home Management of Malaria strategy
Available at http://sara.aed.org/publications/cross_cut- with Coartem using trained community-based agents
ting/self_evaluation/self-evaluation%20guide%20 supervised monthly is feasible, acceptable, and can
(English).pdf achieve high levels of compliance. However, if the inter-
vention is to be sustainable, the agents need to be paid.
Desclaux, A., Lanièce, I., Ndoye, I., Taverne, B. (eds), Available at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
2004. The Senegalese Antiretroviral Drug Access Initiative pubmed/16827701?dopt=Citation
- An Economic Social Behavioural and Biomedical Analysis.
Paris, ANRS, UNAIDS, WHO.
Crawley, J., J. Hill, et al. (2007). From evidence to action?
The book presents the results and analyses of the Challenges to policy change and program delivery for ma-
study outcomes and process of OR conducted during laria in pregnancy. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 7(2): 145-55.
the National ART Programme in Senegal and helps to
understand the pitfalls and successes in four main areas: This paper discusses the factors that influence whether
access to treatment, adherence, treatment efficacy and strategies for preventing and treating malaria in pregnancy
impact and program’s impact on the health system. A are successfully translated into national policy and program
multidisciplinary research program was set up gathering implementation, and identifies key OR issues. The provi-
epidemiologists, virologists, economists, anthropolo- sion of clear policy guidance on malaria in pregnancy and
gists, clinicians, psychiatrists, and public health profes- its translation into evidence-based guidelines that are made
sionals in a team composed of scientists, program widely available at a country level are central to improving
managers, health professionals and representatives of malaria control in this particularly vulnerable group.
PLWHA associations. The outcomes of the research led
to reorienting the program regarding economic access, Available at http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/
among other topics. As a result, free access for patients article/PIIS1473309907700269/abstract
was implemented in 2003, the Senegalese ARV Drug
Access Initiative becoming then the first program of
its kind to do so. Stakeholders’ participation was an Davis, D., M. Evans, et al. (2003). The case for knowl-
ongoing process, even on topics that were less easy edge translation: shortening the journey from evidence
to control for the national program, such as patients’ to effect. The British Medical Journal 327(7405): 33-5.
perceptions of treatment or the circulation of ARV drugs
in the informal drug market. Attempts to reduce the gap between evidence and prac-
tice have been many and include educational strategies
Available at www.ird.sn/activites/sida/Thesenegalese.pdf to alter practitioners’ behavior and organizational and ad-
ministrative interventions. This paper explores three con-
structs aimed at improving understanding of and reduc-
Chinbuah, A. M., J. O. Gyapong, et al. (2006). Feasibility ing barriers to implementing evidence-based practice.
and acceptability of the use of artemether-lumefantrine
in the home management of uncomplicated malaria in Available at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
children 6-59 months old in Ghana. Tropical Medicine & pubmed/12842955?dopt=Citation
International Health 11(7): 1003-16.
42
Dobbins, M., P. Rosenbaum, et al. (2007). Information valid results and accurate interpretation of findings. OR
transfer: what do decision-makers want and need from effectively influenced disease control policy and practice
researchers? Implementation Science 2: 20. in rural South Africa by providing relevant answers to local
questions and engaging policy-makers.
The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic
assessment of the need for research-based information Available at www.malariajournal.com/content/1/1/9
by decision-makers working in CBOs. It is part of a more
comprehensive knowledge transfer and exchange strategy
that seeks to understand both the content required and Ellis, A. A., P. Winch, et al. (2007). Home management
the format/methods by which such information should of childhood diarrhoea in southern Mali-implications
be presented. Preferred formats for receiving information for the introduction of zinc treatment. Social Science &
were executive summaries, abstracts, and original articles. Medicine 64(3): 701-12.
These findings support the importance of developing
interactive, collaborative knowledge-transfer strategies, Formative research is being conducted in a number
as well as the need to foster relationships with health-care of countries to prepare for the large-scale promotion
decision-makers, practitioners and policy-makers. of this new treatment. In-depth and semi-structured
interviews with parents, community health workers
Available at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articler- and traditional healers were conducted to examine the
ender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=17608940 household management of diarrhea in Mali in prepara-
tion for the introduction of a short course of daily zinc
for childhood diarrhea at the community level. The
Durrheim, D. N., S. Frieremans, et al. (1999). results that emerged from this study suggest that a
Confidential inquiry into malaria deaths. The Bulletin joint therapy of zinc and oral rehydration solution (ORS)
of the World Health Organization 77(3): 263-6. should be well accepted in the community. Mothers-in-
law and fathers, who play a significant role in decisions
The results of a confidential inquiry into mortality attrib- to seek treatment for sick children, as well as traditional
uted to malaria in South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province healers, should also be considered when designing
are being used to guide the design of strategies for new programs to promote zinc. Similarities with OR
improving the management of cases and reducing the conducted for a previous generation of diarrhea control
probability of deaths from the disease. programs are discussed.
Available at www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/en/ Available at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

pubmed/17097788?dopt=Citation
Durrheim, D. N., R. Speare, et al. (2002). Research that

influences policy and practice - characteristics of opera- FHI (2006). Integrating Family Planning Services into
tional research to improve malaria control in Mpuma- Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers in Kenya:
langa Province, South Africa. Malaria Journal 1: 9. Operations Research Results. Research Triangle Park.
A series of OR studies were conducted to refine malaria Advocates of family planning and HIV service integra-
diagnosis in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa between tion require evidence of service delivery strategies that
1995 and 1999. The principal positive attributes of the comprehensively and effectively respond to the con-
OR studies were high local relevance, greater ability to traceptive needs of HIV/AIDS clients without detracting
convince local decision-makers, relatively short lag-time from HIV/AIDS services. To help generate such evidence,
before implementation of findings, and the cost-effective FHI undertook an OR study of the costs and effective-
nature of this form of research. Potential negative features ness of integrating contraceptive services into voluntary
elicited included opportunities forfeited by using scarce HIV counseling and testing (VCT) services. The study
resources to conduct research and the need to adequately findings reinforce assumptions that integration of
train local health staff in research methodology to ensure contraception into VCT has the potential to reduce
HIV-positive births, in addition to extending the benefits
43
of contraception to all clients who want to prevent OPS/DPC/CD (2005). Operations Research on the Use of
pregnancy. After strengthening the content and cover- Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria. Guayaquil.
age of the intervention, more research is needed to
be able to make a definitive statement about whether As one of the activities of the Amazon Network for
integration of family planning services into VCT can Surveillance of Anti-malarial Drug Resistance, a meet-
indeed result in contraceptive uptake. ing on OR on the use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs)
for malaria was held in the city of Guayaquil in May
Available at http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/booksRe- 2005. In the context of introducing RDTs to diagnose
ports/Integration_Kenya_Lessons.htm malaria, research needs were defined and issues related
to quality assurance, implementation, and evaluation of
effectiveness and impact were discussed.
Glasgow, R. E., E. Lichtenstein, et al. (2003). Why don’t
we see more translation of health promotion research to Available at http://www.paho.org/english/AD/DPC/CD/
practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transi- ravreda7-rdts-guayaquil.pdf
tion. American Journal of Public Health 93(8): 1261-7.
The gap between research and practice is well Quality Assurance Project (2002). Vendor-to-Vendor
documented. One of the underlying reasons for this Education to Improve Malaria Treatment by Drug Outlets
gap is addressed in this article: the assumption that in Kenya. Operations Research Results. Bethesda, Quality
effectiveness research naturally and logically follows Assurance Project.
from successful efficacy research. These two research
traditions have evolved different methods and values; Private drug outlets have grown increasingly important
consequently, there are inherent differences between the as the main source of malaria treatment for residents
characteristics of a successful efficacy intervention versus of malaria-endemic areas, although the quality and
those of an effectiveness one. Moderating factors that quantity of information about this source of treatment
limit robustness across settings, populations, and inter- is deficient. In Kenya, an OR study tested an innova-
vention staff need to be addressed in efficacy studies as tive, low-cost approach for improving the prescribing
well as in effectiveness trials. Greater attention needs to practices of private drug outlets. The approach, called
be paid to documenting intervention reach, adoption, Vendor-to-Vendor Education, involved training and
implementation, and maintenance. Recommendations equipping wholesale counter attendants and mobile
are offered to help close the gap between efficacy and vendors with customized job aids for distribution to
effectiveness research and to guide evaluation and rural and peri-urban retailers.
possible adoption of new programs.
Available at http://www.qaproject.org/pubs/PDFs/
Available at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articler- vendorkenya.pdf
ender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12893608
The Quality Assurance Project (QAP) undertook a
study in Niger to improve adherence to cotrimoxazole
Madon, T., K. Hofman, et al. (2007). Implementation therapy, the antibiotic recommended there for treat-
Science. Science 318: 1728-1729. ing childhood pneumonia. QAP designed and tested
program job aids for health workers and caretakers
This paper discusses how researchers and funders need to aimed at improving drug adherence. The job aids were
use systems approaches that translate research not only supplemented with training in counseling techniques
to clinical practice but also to global health programs. for the health workers. A second program addressed
the number of doses of cotrimoxazole given to
Available at www.sciencemag.org caretakers at the first visit. The findings of the study
have important implications for policy changes and
program design.
Available at http://www.qaproject.org/pubs/PDFs/
pneumnigerbookrev403.pdf
44
Quality Assurance Project (2004). The Zambia HIV/AIDS Smith, C., M. B. Bingman, et al. (2006). Effective
Workforce Study: Preparing for Scale Up. Bethesda. Research, Dissemination: Lesson from NCSALL.
Focus on Basics: Connecting Research & Practice 8(C).
This report presents the findings of a study conducted
at 16 health-care sites in Zambia offering VCT, preven- Over the past ten years, NCSALL has tried a variety
tion of mother to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), of approaches to disseminating research. This article
and ARV therapy. The purpose of the study was to assist reviews their experiences and shares some lessons
the government of Zambia in determining whether learned about disseminating research findings.
it will have sufficient staff to be able to scale up VCT,
PMTCT and ARV treatment to reach its targeted Available at www.ncsall.net/?id=1157
numbers of clients. The report analyzes the time taken
to carry out the prescribed tasks involved in each of
the services, analyzes the extent to which the services Walley, J., M. A. Khan, et al. (2007). How to get research
are following the national service delivery standards, into practice: first get practice into research. Bulletin of
describes the present workforce involved in providing the World Health Organization 85(6): 424.
these services, and analyzes the human resource costs
associated with the present workforce arrangements. The problem of failing to get research into policy and
It then uses these findings to project the staffing and practice is well known. The aim should not be to perfect
related staffing costs of scaling up services. techniques of feeding results to decision-makers, but
to start from the perspective of the decision-makers
Available at http://www.qaproject.org/pubs/PDFs/ even before devising the questions. This means “getting
ORMZambiaWorkforcel.pdf practice into research”.
Available at www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/
Sanders, D. and A. Haines (2006). Implementation 85/6/07-042531.pdf
research is needed to achieve international health goals.
PLoS Med 3(6): e186.
WHO/HRP (2006). Turning Research into Practice: Sug-
Health research needs to focus not just on the growing gesting Actions from Case Studies of Sexual and Reproduc-
divide in health status between the world’s rich and the tive Health Research. Geneva, WHO/HRP.
poor but also on the unacceptable gap between our
unprecedented knowledge of diseases (including their This document is the result of two expert meetings
control) and the implementation of that knowledge, that reviewed case studies of utilization of sexual and
especially in poor countries. Directed and innovative reproductive health research in order to elicit lessons
research is needed to analyze the causes of this situation that researchers, program managers and others could
and to point toward solutions at the global and local apply to increase the use of findings emerging from OR.
levels, both within and outside the health sector. Unless The document presents guidelines for optimizing the
mainstream research organizations actively promote use of research findings as well as suggesting how to
OR, and policy-makers demand that the implementa- monitor the extent to which research-based evidence is
tion of interventions and programs be rigorously used for policy change.
evaluated, the substantial gap between knowledge and
its implementation will persist in the health field. Available at www.who.org/reproductive-health/publica-
tions/trip/index.html
Available at http://medicine.plosjournals.org/
perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.
pmed.0030186 WHO/HTM/TB (2005). TB/HIV Research Priorities in
Resource-Limited Settings: Report of an Expert Consultation.
Geneva, Switzerland.
45
This expert consultative meeting convened to define References

TB/HIV research priorities and outline their research
relevance in the context of program activities and to The materials and articles listed below have been quoted
solicit and promote the building of TB/HIV research ca- or used in the main text. There are additional anno-
pacity at the country level. Five major areas for research tated reference materials and articles in the annotated
prioritization emerged, although it was determined that Resource/Toolkit part of Section C. This is not an exhaus-
evaluating the implementation of the current policy tive list of items relevant to OR/IR.
package should be given more emphasis than generat-
ing more research questions. AIDS Partnership California. Completing the Circle:
Designing HIV prevention programs for persons of color with
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WHO-EM/TDR (2003). Operational Research in Tropical velopment, WHO. What are the options? Using formative
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ects conducted between 1992 and 2000. With relatively Dobbins, M., Rosenbaum, P. et al. Information Transfer:
limited funds, they have all generated results that point What do decision-makers want and need from research-
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47
Annexes
Annex A
Definitions of Operations and Implementation Research
Annex B
Examples of Organizations that Fund/Support Operations Research
Annex C
Literature Review Procedures and Relevant Journals
Annex D
Sample Consent Forms and Independent Review Board
Checklists
Annex E
Linkage between Researchers and Public Health
Annex A
Annex A - Definitions of Operations and Implementation Research
Operations Research 3. Andrew Fisher et al. (1991)3 offer the following

scope for OR: “OR is a process, a way of identifying
1. WHO (2003)1 defines OR as “the use of systematic and solving program problems. As currently ap-
research techniques for program decision-making plied in health, family planning and other develop-
to achieve a specific outcome. OR provides ment programs, OR can be defined as a continuous
policy-makers and managers with evidence that process with five basic steps: 1) problem identifica-
they can use to improve program operations. It is tion and diagnosis, 2) strategy selection, 3) strategy
distinguished from other kinds of research by the experimentation and evaluation, 4) information
following characteristics: dissemination, and 5) information utilization. The
process of OR is designed to increase the efficiency,
• It addresses specific problems within specific effectiveness, and quality of services delivered by
programs, not general health issues; providers; and the availability, accessibility and
• It addresses those problems that are under control acceptability of services desired by users.”
of managers, such as program systems, training,
pricing and provision of information; 4. The International Food Policy Research Institute
• It utilizes systematic data collection procedures, (2005)4 considered that, “OR aims at studying the
both qualitative and quantitative, to accumulate processes by which programs are implemented
evidence supporting decision-making; and interventions are delivered to intended ben-
• It requires collaboration between managers eficiaries. The main purpose is to identify, as early
and researchers in identification of the research as possible in the life of a program, any shortcom-
problem, development of the study design, ings in the process that may affect the effective
implementation of the study and analysis and delivery of the intervention, and as a result, its
interpretation of results; and potential impact on the expected outcomes. Thus,
• It succeeds only if the study results are used to the overall goal of OR is to generate the necessary
make program decisions; publication alone is not information to program planners and implementers
a valid indicator of successful OR.” that will allow them to design and test potential
solutions to improve program delivery and will lead
2. The Population Council (2000)2 explains that, to the timely implementation of corrective actions.
“Operations research helps policy-makers and pro- OR methods have been used to evaluate the quality
gram managers to review, redirect and restructure of implementation of a number of social programs.
programs that have been in place for many years. A major focus of OR as described is to assess the
OR uses social science and other research methods implementation and operational aspects of pro-
to provide decision-makers with empirically-based grams, with the overall goal of identifying areas
and scientifically-valid answers to service delivery that could be improved and to propose solutions
problems.” The Population Council identifies three for strengthening the program and maximizing its
types of OR studies. effectiveness.”
• Diagnostic studies are used to assess the nature 5. Special Program of Research, Development and Re-
and extent of a health or service delivery problem. search Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) (2006)5
• Evaluative studies are used to evaluate ongoing addressed the following question about OR: “In re-
innovative health interventions. lation to the research question, what level of in-
• Intervention studies are used to test, usually teraction exists between the research group and
through a quasi-experimental research design, the service delivery programs? Close interaction be-
the effectiveness of service delivery interventions tween researchers and service delivery programs is
explicitly designed to address a specific service particularly important in the case of OR.”
delivery problem.
49
Annex A
Implementation Research designed to compare different approaches to imple-

menting change. IR is often multidisciplinary, encom-
1. The overall objective of IR is to significantly improve passing both quantitative and qualitative approaches
access to efficacious interventions against tropi- that require expertise in epidemiology, statistics,
cal diseases by developing practical solutions to anthropology, sociology, health economics, political
common, critical problems in the implementation science, policy analysis, ethics and other disciplines.
of these interventions (TDR, 2005).6 In order to
achieve this objective, IR will: 3. Alan Werner (2004)8 talks about IR as “one type of
evaluation research” and notes that “IR can assist
a. identify common implementation problems and those designing and operating social programs.” He
their main determinants which prevent effective further explains that, “IR is used as a general term
access to interventions and determine which of for research that focuses on the question ‘What is
these problems are susceptible to research; happening?’ in the design, implementation, admin-
b. develop practical solutions to these problems and istration, operation, services, and outcomes of social
test whether new implementation strategies based programs. Implementation studies can have multiple
on these solutions can significantly improve access purposes, such as supporting the impact study by
under conditions of routine disease control; describing the precise nature of the program being
c. determine - in collaboration with partners - the tested and explaining the pattern of impact findings
best way to introduce these new implementation over time or across program sites.”
strategies into the health system and facilitate
their full scale implementation, evaluation and Other Relevant Forms of Research
modification, as required.
1. Scrimshaw and Gleason (1992)9 edited a web resource
IR will focus on diseases for which a disease control book on Rapid Assessment Procedures. In that
tool (or package of tools) is available and proven to collection of materials they explain that, in the 1980s
be efficacious and that has the potential to greatly Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP), Rapid Rural Ap-
reduce the burden of disease if the major implemen- praisal (RRA) and related approaches were used to col-
tation problems could be resolved and access be lect information that contributed to the planning and
improved. Access is defined as the facility with which evaluation of public health and other social program
disease-affected populations can obtain relevant areas. The origins of these approaches lie in the practi-
components of specific public health interventions. cal needs of program planners and decision- makers;
Access reflects both the supply of and the demand for they also focused on the needs and interests of clients
the intervention. that development programs should serve. These
approaches investigated household and individual
2. Sanders and Haines (2006)7 see IR as part of health health-related behaviors within their complex, rational
systems research. IR is that subset of health services matrix of personal and social realities. They search
research (HSR) that focuses on how to promote the for opinions and attitudes, behavior, and motivations
uptake and successful implementation of evidence- of both the clients of development programs and
based interventions and policies that have, over the also those who deliver services. Understanding both
past decade, been identified through systematic groups is essential both to planning and to evaluat-
reviews. IR is used as a general term for research that ing health, nutrition and other social development
focuses on the question ‘What is happening?’ in the programs. Trained investigators used RAP approaches
design, implementation, administration, operation, to explore behavior, attitudes, practices and causal
services, and outcomes of social programs; it also factors through careful observation, probing inter-
asks, ‘Is it what is expected or desired?’ and “Why views and FGDs. Other methods included a variety of
is it happening as it is?” In the health field, IR often highly-participative activities whereby people score,
encompasses “impact research”, which includes both diagram, map, sort cards, and use other simple but
research aimed at understanding what is happening powerful tools to describe and often explain their
during the processes of implementing changes in current and past situations and environment. While
policy or practice and intervention studies that are not aiming at statistical generalizations to popula-
50
Annex A
tions, these approaches provide a framework for data 3

Andrew A. Fisher, John E. Laing, John E. Stoeckel, John
verification and analysis through an iterative process W. Townsend, Handbook for Family Planning Opera-
allowing correction and learning as the research tions Research Design, Second Edition, Population
progresses. With RRA/RAP control of some tools is Council, New York, 1991
given over to the client, reversing roles and generat-
ing a process of self-analysis by decision-makers and 4
Cornelia Loechl, Marie T. Ruel, Gretel Pelto, and Purnima
giving them new insights on client capabilities to plan, Menon. The Use of Operations Research as a Tool for
lead and manage development efforts. Monitoring and Managing Food-Assisted Maternal/Child
Health and Nutrition (MCHN) Programs: An Example
2. The AIDS Partnership of California (2003)10 has found from Haiti. FOOD CONSUMPTION AND NUTRITION
Formative Research to be a useful approach in DIVISION February 2005, FCND Discussion Paper 187,
planning and evaluating programs. When planning a Washington, IFPRI’s Discussion Papers. Copyright 2005,
new intervention, agencies often do not have an idea International Food Policy Research Institute.
what to do, but need to understand the best way to
do it. And when a new intervention is designed for a 5
UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Program
relatively new population, they need to know if what of Research, Development and Research Training in
they’ve been doing in other communities will work Human Reproduction (HRP). Turning research into
for them. That’s where formative research fits in. practice: suggested actions from case-studies of
Formative research looks at the community in which sexual and reproductive health research. World Health
an agency is situated and helps agencies understand Organization, Department of Reproductive Health and
the interests, attributes and needs of the populations Research, Geneva, 2006
and persons in their community. Formative research
is research that occurs before a program is designed 6
UNICEF/UNDP/WHO/World Bank Special Program for
and implemented, or while a program is being Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) Imple-
conducted. Formative research can help: mentation Research and Methods (IRM). Guidelines
for Preparing a Grant Application to the TDR Steering
• Understand populations in need of services Committee for Implementation Research. Geneva:
• Create programs that are specific to the needs March 2005
of these populations
• Ensure that programs are acceptable to clients 7
David Sanders and Andy Haines. Implementation Re-
and feasible before launching search Is Needed to Achieve International Health Goals.
• Improve the relationships between clients PLoS Medicine June 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 6 | e186
and agencies
8
Alan Werner. A Guide to Implementation Research.
Contact Information Chapter One. 2004, www.urban.org/pubs/implementa-
tionresearch/chapter1.html - accessed March 2008
1
Expanding Capacity for Operations Research in
Reproductive Health: Summary Report of a Consulta- 9
Nevin S. Scrimshaw and Gary R. Gleason, Editors. Rapid
tive Meeting, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, December Assessment Procedures - Qualitative Methodolo-
10–12, 2001, © World Health Organization 2003 gies for Planning and Evaluation of Health Related
Programs, 1992 International Nutrition Foundation for
2
Strengthening Reproductive Health Services in Developing Countries (INFDC), Boston, MA. USA.
Africa through Operations Research. Africa Opera- www.unu.edu/unupress/food2/UIN08E/uin08e00.htm.
tions Research and Technical Assistance Project II. The
Population Council, 2000. Funded by the U.S. Agency AIDS Partnership California. Completing the Circle:
10
for International Development (A.I.D), Office of Population Designing HIV prevention programs for persons of color
Contract No. CCC-3030-C-00-3008-00 with HIV. 2003. www.aidspartnershipca.org/assets/
CompletingTheCircle4.pdf
51
Annex B
Annex B - Examples of Organizations that Fund/Support Operations Research
Organization Web Information Links
Bill & Melinda Gates The foundation is now accepting grant proposals www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
Foundation for the first round of Grand Challenges Explora-
tions, a US $100 million initiative to encourage Grand Challenges in Global Health
bold and unconventional global health solutions. www.gcgh.org/Explorations/Pages/
Proposals will be accepted online through the Introduction.aspx
Grand Challenges Explorations website through
30 May 2008.
Council for the CODESRIA, the Council for the Development of www.codesria.org/
Development of Social Science Research in Africa is headquar- www.codesria.org/French/default.htm
Social Science tered in Dakar, Senegal. It was established in
Research in Africa 1973 as an independent pan-African research Research Mandate and Objectives
organization with a primary focus on the so- www.codesria.org/Research.htm
cial sciences, broadly defined. It is recognized
not only as the pioneer African social research Training Grants and Fellowships
organization but also as the apex nongovernmen- www.codesria.org/training_grants.htm
tal center of social knowledge production on the
continent.
Global Fund to Fight The Global Fund was created to finance a www.theglobalfund.org/en/
AIDS, Tuberculosis dramatic turnaround in the fight against AIDS,
and Malaria tuberculosis and malaria. These diseases kill Checklist on Round 8 Operations/
over six million people each year, and the num- Implementation Research
bers are growing. Operations research proposals www.theglobalfund.org/documents/
must be submitted as part of national disease rounds/8/R8OpRChecklist_en.doc
control proposals.
links to Operations Research Information for
Applicants planning on including Operations
Research in their proposal:
www.theglobalfund.org/en/apply/call8/
technical/
International IDRC is a Canadian Crown corporation that www.idrc.org/en/ev-1-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Development works in close collaboration with researchers
Research Center from the developing world in their search for the Funding Opportunities
means to build healthier, more equitable, and www.idrc.org/en/ev-54473-201-1-DO_
more prosperous societies. TOPIC.html
John D. and Grant-making in population and reproductive www.macfound.org/site/c.

Catherine T. health (2008) reflects a comprehensive approach lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.3599935/
MacArthur to reproductive and sexual health and rights, one
Foundation that places women’s well-being at the center of Population and Reproductive Health
population policy and emphasizes the rights of www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/
individuals to determine and plan family size. b.932747/k.B59A/International_
Through its offices in India, Mexico, and Nigeria, Grantmaking__Population_and_
the foundation makes grants that support efforts Reproductive_Health.htm
to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and to
advance the sexual and reproductive health and
rights of young people in these three countries.
PEPFAR Critical to ensuring that the PEPFAR has the www.pepfar.gov/

(The US President’s desired impact is the collection of strategic
Emergency Plan for information though the monitoring of core Activities supported by PEPFAR
AIDS Relief) indicators, the surveillance of disease trends, www.pepfar.gov/guidance/78260.htm
and the implementation of special studies and
OR. An example is OR in Rwanda to identify
strategies for increasing nevirapine acceptance
in prenatal clinics. Such plans need to be
developed with PEPFAR implementing partners
in countries.
52 52
Annex B
Organization Web Information Links
Rockefeller The foundation seeks to promote the well- www.rockfound.org/

Foundation being of humanity by addressing the root
causes of serious problems. It works to expand See: Role of Private Sector in Health
opportunities for poor or vulnerable people Systems
and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits www.rockfound.org/library/020108private_
are more widely shared. It is one of the few sector_health.pdf
institutions to conduct such work both within
the United States and internationally.
Tropical Disease The Special Program for Research and Training www.who.int/tdr/index.html
Research Program in Tropical Diseases (TDR) is an independent
global program of scientific collaboration. Research Lines
Established in 1975 and cosponsored by the www.who.int/tdr/research_lines/default.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), htm
the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the World Bank and the WHO, it aims Strategic Emphases
to help coordinate, support and influence www.who.int/tdr/grants/strategic-
global efforts to combat a portfolio of major emphases/default.htm
diseases of the poor and disadvantaged. TDR
focuses on neglected infectious diseases that Calls for Applications
disproportionately affect poor and marginalized www.who.int/tdr/grants/grants/calls.htm
populations.
The French The ANRS in France leads and funds research http://anrs.fr
National Agency in all relevant fields (basic science, clinical
for Research on research, social sciences, etc.) on AIDS and
AIDS and Viral viral hepatitis. A quarter of its budget is devoted
Hepatitis (ANRS) to research in developing countries and OR is
one of the priorities of the Agency since 2005.
The ANRS accepts grant proposals two times
a year (September and March). Proposals in
developing countries have to be submitted by
a team of researchers from both North and
South institutions in accordance with the ethic’s
charter of the agency.
Wellcome Trust The trust supports many different kinds of www.wellcome.ac.uk/

research and activities with the ultimate aim
of protecting and improving human and animal Starting a grant
health. This support is not restricted to UK www.wellcome.ac.uk/Managing-a-grant/
researchers - it devotes significant funding to Starting-a-grant/index.htm
international research too - research support
for those working in developing countries, with
an emphasis on public health, tropical medicine
and building research capacity.
53 53
Annex c
Annex C - Literature Review Procedures and Relevant Journals
1. Formal or Published Literature 2. Gray literature
One of the most common places to start gathering Gray Literature is a term used for studies and reports
examples of previous studies that can inform a new that are not formally published in a scientific journal
research effort is PubMed. This service is based on or by a book publisher. These reports contain much
the internet and provides free abstracts of published useful information about health and disease control
articles and links to journals that contain the full article. program efforts as well as good descriptions of the
overall health system and disease characteristics in
The two pictures here show the PubMed as one would particular countries and locations. Some of the orga-
find it on the web. The web address is in the first picture. nizations listed in Annex B have such reports on their
The “for” line below the PubMed logo is used to enter websites. Some websites have tabs for “publications”
search terms and as seen in the second picture, retrieve a where these studies and reports can be found. Below
list of articles. The more terms one adds, the fewer selec- are a few examples.
tions are provided. One needs to balance this process
in order to get enough helpful articles without missing Tropical Disease Research Program Publications
important information. The central part of this webpage www.who.int/tdr/publications/default.htm
gives more guidance on how to conduct a search.
UNICEF Publications
Some of these journals also provide their articles free (for www.unicef.org/publications/index.html
example, Malaria Journal: www.malariajournal.com/),
while others require a subscription or payment for BASICS (child survival) Publications
downloading a specific article. There are services where www.basics.org/publication.htm
researchers working in developing countries can request
free copies of articles. One place where people can ac- International Development Research Center Publications
cess articles for free is: Health InterNetwork Access (English) www.idrc.org/en/ev-8574-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
to Research Initiative www.who.int/hinari/en/ (French) www.idrc.org/fr/ev-8574-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
The HINARI program, set up by WHO together with ma- Quality Assurance Project Publications
jor publishers, enables developing countries to gain ac- www.qaproject.org/products.html
cess to one of the world’s largest collections of biomedi-
cal and health literature. Over 3,750 journal titles are now Council for the Development of Social Science Research
available to health institutions in 113 countries, benefiting in Africa
many thousands of health workers and researchers, and (English) www.codesria.org/Publications.htm
in turn, contributing to improved world health. (French) www.codesria.org/French/Publications_fr.htm
Free online journals can be found at: Gray literature can also include internal reports from
the national ministry of health and unpublished
BioMed Central (BMC) dissertations and theses from local universities and
institutes.
www.biomedcentral.com/
The Public Library of Science (PLoS)
www.plos.org/oa/index.html
54 54
Annex c
3. Journals that May Publish Operations Research
The following chart provides just a few examples. In doing literature reviews it is possible to see the types and
names of journals that published studies of interest. The websites of these journals will enable researchers to
review their scope and purpose as well as their instructions to authors.
www.heapol.oxfordjournals.org/ www.blackwellpublishing.com/ www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescri

journal.asp?ref=1360-2276&site=1 ption.cws_home/315/description#description
www.human-resources-health.com/home/ www.informaworld.com/ www.baywood.com/journals/

smpp/title~content=t716100712 PreviewJournals.asp?Id=0272-684x
55
Annex D
Annex D - Sample Consent Forms and IRB Checklists
1. Consent for Clinic Based Survey
2. Consent for Focus Group
3. Consent for Community Survey
4. Items to include in IRB
5. Checklist for IRB
56
Annex D
IRB # 2002-257 Perception of VCT Among Women in _____
_____ INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

_____ MINISTRY OF HEALTH
RESEARCH CONSENT FORM

(Clinic Survey
KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY

ANTENATAL HIV COUNSELING AND TESTING AMONG
WOMEN IN _____: A CASE STUDY OF _____ LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AREA OF _____ STATE
Principal Investigator: _____, M.Sc
Co-Investigators: _____, PhD

_____, MB;BS
_____, PhD
_____, MBBCh, PhD, FWACP
Page 1 of 4
57
Annex D
Why are we giving you this form?

We are giving you this form to tell you about this research study. You have the
opportunity to participate in this study. Your husband or relations will not know if you
participate. After you have learned more about the study, you can decide if you would
like to participate.
Who is carrying out this study?

A team of researchers from the _____ Institute of Medical Research is carrying out the
study. The main researchers are:
I. _____, M.Sc
II. _____ (PhD), _____ PU (PhD), _____ AA (MBBS),
_____ (MBBCh, PhD, FWACP)
The staff from _____ University supports them.
The number identifying the study in _____ is IRB # 2002-257.
The title of the study is “Knowledge and Perception of Voluntary Antenatal HIV
Counseling and Testing Among Women in _____: A Case Study of _____ North Local
Government Area of _____ State.”
Background Information
HIV infection is increasing common among pregnant women in _____. HIV is the virus
that causes AIDS. Infection is possible through contact with infected blood and other
body fluids, from mother-to-child during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding.
Mother-to-child HIV infection is responsible for more than 90% of HIV infection in
children. Weare trying to understand the acceptability and demand for confidential
antenatal HIVcounseling and testing (VCT) by pregnant women and want to know what
people in the community think about VCT. We hope that this information will encourage
the government, health specialists, and businesses to take more action to prevent and
control mother-to-child transmission of HIV and introduce nevirapine therapy in the
country. You are registered here for antenatal care. We would therefore like you to
participate in our study. Your participation is voluntary. No one else will know whether
or not you participated. We expect up to 800 women to participate in the study over the
next 6 weeks. Participation will take less than 45 minutes of your time.
What Happens in this Research Study

There are two steps to the study.
1. Clinic Survey:
Questionnaire: We will ask you several questions about yourself, your knowledge
of the modes of HIV transmission, signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS, prevention
of HIV infection. We will also want to know if you would be willing to seek
VCT. The person asking the questions will be an employee of the study. He or
she will not be from the community and will not be someone you know. This will
take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete.
Page 2 of 4
58
Annex D
RB # 2002-257 Perception of VCT Among Women in _____
2. Focus Group Discussion: Men and women in the community will be invited to
participate in discussion sessions to know individual and collective opinions and
views about VCT. These discussions will be taped and last for about 30-45
minutes.
Possible Risks and Discomforts from Participating in this Study

The time it takes to answer the questions may be inconvenient.
Benefits from Participating in this Study

There may be no direct benefits to your participation in this study. Participation in this
study may provide benefits to your community. By improving our understanding of
women’s knowledge of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and how they perceive
VCT, your participation in the study may improve the prevention and management of
mother-to-child HIV transmission during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding in the
community.
Your Right to Participate, Not Participate, or Withdraw from this Study

Your participation in this research is voluntary. If you choose not to participate, that will
not affect your right to health care or other services to which you are otherwise entitled.
You will still receive the standard medical care that this clinic provides.
If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and discontinue
participation at any time without prejudice.
Confidentiality of the Information Used in the Study

Records and tapes relating to your participation in the study will remain confidential.
Your information will be kept in a secured place. The questionnaires and audio tapes
used for information collection will be destroyed hopefully after 2-3 years after the
study results would have been published in peer-reviewed journal. Your name will not
be used for this study. Representatives of the _____ Institute of Medical Research,
_____ and the Center for _____ at _____ University, the _____ University _____
Institutional Review Board and if appropriate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
may examine the study records, as part of their responsibility to oversee the research.
Questions and Medical Care for Injury

If you have questions about this study or should you be injured as a direct result of
participating in this study, you should contact _____, Public Health Division, _____
Institute of Medical Research, _____, Phone: 123456. In case of injury, you will be
provided with medical care, at no cost, for that injury. Note that you will not receive any
injury compensation, only medical care. Any questions regarding your rights should be
directed to the Office of the Institutional Review Board, Phone: 456789.
By signing below, you confirm that you have been informed about the study of the
impact of tuberculosis on work performance and agree to participate. If there
is any part of this explanation that you do not understand, you should ask the
investigator before signing.
Page 3 of 4
59
Annex D
You will receive a copy of this signed consent form.
SIGNATURE OF PARTICIPANT ___________________________________________
PERMANENT ADDRESS OF PARTICIPANT ________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
DATE _________________________________________________________________
SIGNATURE OF PRINCIPAL
INVESTIGATOR ________________________________________________________
Page 4 of 4
60
Annex D
_____ INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

_____ MINISTRY OF HEALTH
RESEARCH CONSENT FORM

(Focus Group)
KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY

ANTENATAL HIV COUNSELING AND TESTING AMONG
WOMEN IN _____: A CASE STUDY OF _____ LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AREA OF _____ STATE
Principal Investigator: _____, M.Sc
Co-Investigators: _____, PhD

_____, MB;BS
_____, PhD
_____, MBBCh, PhD, FWACP
Page 1 of 4
61
Annex D
Why are we giving you this form?

We are giving you this form to tell you about this research study. You have the
opportunity to participate in this study. Your husband or relations will not know if you
participate. After you have learned more about the study, you can decide if you would
like to participate.
Who is carrying out this study?

A team of researchers from the _____ Institute of Medical Research is carrying out the
study. The main researchers are:
I. _____, M.Sc
II. _____ (PhD), _____ PU (PhD), _____ AA (MBBS),
_____ (MBBCh, PhD, FWACP)
The staff from _____ University supports them.
The number identifying the study in _____ is IRB # 2002-257.
The title of the study is “Knowledge and Perception of Voluntary Antenatal HIV
Counseling and Testing Among Women in _____: A Case Study of _____ North Local
Government Area of _____ State.”
Background Information
HIV infection is increasing common among pregnant women in _____. HIV is the virus
that causes AIDS. Infection is possible through contact with infected blood and other
body fluids, from mother-to-child during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding.
Mother-to-child HIV infection is responsible for more than 90% of HIV infection in
children. We are trying to understand the acceptability and demand for confidential
antenatal HIV counseling and testing (VCT) by pregnant women and know what people
in the community think about VCT. We hope that this information will encourage the
government, health specialists, and businesses to take more action to prevent and
control mother-to-child transmission of HIV and introduce nevirapine therapy in
the country. You are a resident of this community; we would therefore like you to
participate in our study. Your participation is voluntary. No one else will know whether
or not you participated. We expect up to 800 women in a survey and other men and
women in this community to participate in the group discussions of the study over the
next 6 weeks. Participation will take less than 1 hour of your time.
What Happens in this Research Study

There are two steps to the study.
1. Clinic Survey:
Questionnaire: We will ask you several questions about yourself, your knowledge
of the modes of HIV transmission, signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS, prevention
of HIV infection. We will also want to know if you would be willing to seek
VCT. The person asking the questions will be an employee of the study. He or
she will not be from the community and will not be someone you know. This will
take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete.
Page 2 of 4
62
Annex D
2. Focus Group Discussion: Men and women in the community will be invited to
participate in discussion sessions to know individual and collective opinions and
views about VCT. These discussions will be taped and last for about 30-45
minutes.
Possible Risks and Discomforts from Participating in this Study

The time it takes to answer the questions may be inconvenient.
Benefits from Participating in this Study

There may be no direct benefits to your participation in this study. Participation in this
study may provide benefits to your community. By improving our understanding of
women’s knowledge of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and how they perceive
VCT, your participation in the study may improve the prevention and management of
mother-to-child HIV transmission during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding in the
community.
Your Right to Participate, Not Participate, or Withdraw from this Study

Your participation in this research is voluntary. If you choose not to participate, that will
not affect your right to health care or other services to which you are otherwise entitled.
You will still receive the standard medical care that this clinic provides.
If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and discontinue
participation at any time without prejudice.
Confidentiality of the Information Used in the Study

Records and tapes relating to your participation in the study will remain confidential.
Your information will be kept in a secured place. The questionnaires and audio tapes
used for information collection will be destroyed hopefully after 2-3 years after the
study results would have been published in peer-reviewed journal. Your name will not
be used for this study. Representatives of the _____ Institute of Medical Research,
_____ and the Center for _____ at _____ University, the _____ University _____
Institutional Review Board and if appropriate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
may examine the study records, as part of their responsibility to oversee the research.
Questions and Medical Care for Injury

If you have questions about this study or should you be injured as a direct result of
participating in this study, you should contact _____, Public Health Division, _____
Institute of Medical Research, _____, Phone: 123456. In case of injury, you will be
provided with medical care, at no cost, for that injury. Note that you will not receive any
injury compensation, only medical care. Any questions regarding your rights should be
directed to the Office of the Institutional Review Board, Phone: 456789.
By signing below, you confirm that you have been informed about the study of the
impact of tuberculosis on work performance and agree to participate. If there
is anypart of this explanation that you do not understand, you should ask the
investigator before signing.
Page 3 of 4
63
Annex D
You will receive a copy of this signed consent form.
SIGNATURE OF PARTICIPANT ___________________________________________
PERMANENT ADDRESS OF PARTICIPANT ________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
DATE _________________________________________________________________
SIGNATURE OF PRINCIPAL
INVESTIGATOR ________________________________________________________
Page 4 of 4
64
Annex D
The _____ University

School of _____
Committee on Human Research
CONSENT FORM: written at 8.2 grade level

TITLE: HIV and Violence in the Context of Women’s Lives: Implications for
HIV Counseling and Testing in ______
Principle Investigator: _____
CHR #: 123456789
PURPOSE: We (_____ University) are doing a study with women who come to here
to be tested for HIV. We want to learn about things that influence women’s decisions to
talk with their partners about their HIV status. We also want to learn about how partner
violence is related to women’s decision to tell their partners about their HIV status.
Because you have come here to have an HIV test, we would like to talk to you about
your experience.
PROCEDURES: If you decide to join this study, we will set up a date to meet with
you in three months’ time. The survey that we would like you to take will last about one
hour. You will be asked questions about yourself and your decision to come in for an
HIV test, and how you involved your partner in your decision. Questions will ask things
like; What were the main reasons that you came in for HIV testing? Did you talk about
getting tested with your partner before you came? How did your partner react when
you told him that you wanted to be tested? Have you ever had any partners who have
physically hurt you? If you decide to participate in the study, you will be paid 1200 Tsh
for your time and travel costs.
RISKS/DISCOMFORTS: Some of the topics that you will be asked about are personal
and may make you feel sad or upset. Should you become upset, you can stop the
interview at any time and talk to a counselor. There is also a risk that your partner may
find out that you talked to us and may become unhappy. However, everything that you
tell us during the interview will be kept secret within the research team. You will not
receive any medical benefits from being in this study, and it will require about an hour
of your time.
BENEFITS: You may find that there are some benefits to being in this study. You may
enjoy talking with an interviewer about your personal experiences, and should you want
to, counselors will be able to talk with you. Also, the things that you tell us will help
us make a program that may help other women in similar situations, and improve the
services available to people who want to get an HIV test.
CONFIDENTIALITY: If you take this survey, many things will be done to protect
your privacy. We will not tell the MMC staff or anyone else anything about what you
have told us. Even if someone asks us, we will not tell them anything. Your interview
will take place at the HIV test site, and what you tell us will be marked with a number
rather than your name. Anything that you tell us will be seen only by members of the
research team, and will be kept in a locked cabinet for no longer than 3 years.
Page 1 of 2
65
Annex D
VOLUNTARINESS: Whether or not you decide to do this survey is your

choice. If you decide not to do it, there is no bad effect and you will still receive
the same care at the MMC. If you decide to talk to us, you can stop the interview
at any time and can choose not to answer any questions that you do not want to.
Persons to Contact: If you have any questions about this study in the future, please
contact the person in charge of this study, _____. You can call her phone number 123-
456-7890 or come and talk to her at _____ location. If you feel you have been treated
unfairly in this study, or have other questions, you may call the local Office for Research
Subjects at 456-789-0123.
If this form has been read and explained to you and you agree to be in this study, please
sign or make your mark below.
________________________________________________
Print name of subject
________________________________________________ _______________
Signature or Mark of Subject Date
________________________________________________ _______________
Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date
________________________________________________ _______________
Witness to Consent if Subject Unable to Read or Write Date
(Must be different than the person obtaining consent)
Signed copies of this consent form must be

1) kept on file by the principal investigator, 2) given to the subject
NOT VALID WITHOUT THE CHR

STAMP OF APPROVAL
CHR#: ___________________________
VALID FROM_____________ TO_______________
Page 2 of 2
66
Annex D
Sample IRB Checklist
COMMITTEES ON HUMAN RESEARCH

NEW APPLICATION
SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
NOTE: All new applications must include this checklist. All items must be checked.
If not applicable, write (N/A).
1. Application
2. Grant/Contract Proposal (including budget pages)
3. Complete Research Plan: (address each item under the following Headings)
a. Research Question(s)
b. Rationale ( Motivation, Summary of Importance of the Research)
c. Methods:
i. Study Design and Rationale
ii. Population (sample size, inclusion/exclusion criteria, gender, age and
locale)
iii. Procedures (including the recruitment process)
iv. Questionnaire/Interview Instrument
v. Methods of Intervention
vi. Methods for Dealing with Adverse Events
vii. Methods for Dealing with Illegal Reportable Activities
d. Risks/Benefits:
i. Description of Risks
ii. Description of Measures to Minimize Risks
iii. Description of Level of Research Burden
iv. Description of Benefits
e. Disclosure/Consent Processes - Description of the Process
f. Confidentiality Assurances
i. Plans for record keeping and data security
ii. Location of the data
iii. Person responsible and telephone number
iv. Who will have access to the data
v. Plans for disposition of the data at end of the study
vi. Certificate of Confidentiality (sensitive biomedical, behavioral or
other type of study)
g. Collaborative Agreements (name of the institution/person and a description
of the collaboration)
h. Other IRB Approvals (e.g. collaborating institutions)
4. Study Instruments:
a. Recruitment Materials (flyers, newspaper ads, etc.)
b. Consent Form(s)
c. Assent Form(s)
d. Disclosure Letter(s)
e. Telephone Script(s)
f. Interview Instrument(s) or Draft Questionnaire(s)
Page 1 of 2
67
Annex D
5. Other Supporting Documents:

a. Special Forms and Populations
i. Radiation Forms
ii. Children’s Checklist
iii. Prisoner’s Checklist
iv. Letters of Support
v. Letters of Collaboration
b. If study involves a drug or a biologic:
i. Investigator Drug Brochure
ii. Sponsor’s Protocol
iii. Drug Data Sheet
c. If study involves a device:
i. FDA letter approving the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) OR
ii. 510(k) clearance OR
iii. Letter from Sponsor stating significant or non-significant risk
d. If the device is cleared for marketing, but involves a new investigational use:
i. Pre-Market Approval (PMA) Letter OR
ii. PMA Supplement Letter
iii. PMA Amendment Letter
6. Evidence of human subjects training for all investigators listed on the
application. One copy.
NOTE: An Original + three (3) copies of the CHR Application, Research Plan, study
instruments and all supporting documents must be submitted with two exceptions
noted above.
Principal Investigator:
Project Title:
Page 2 of 2
68
Annex D
PI:________________________________________________________
Study Title:_________________________________________________
OPTIONAL
CHECKLIST FOR CONSENT DOCUMENT
Does this consent form contain each element, if appropriate: Check If you
all that respond
apply N or NA,
please
Y N NA explain
1. That the study involves research
2. An explanation of the purposes of the research
3. That the study is being conducted by Johns Hopkins and the
[Name of the Principal Investigator]
4. An explanation of how selected for the study
5. An explanation of why selected for the study
6. The expected duration of the subject’s participation
7. A description of the procedures to be followed
8. Identification of any procedures which are experimental
9. A description of any benefits to the subject or to others which
may reasonably be expected from the research
10. A description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to
the subjects
11. A disclosure of appropriate alternative procedures or courses of
treatment, if any
12. A statement that participation is voluntary
13. A statement that the subject can withdraw at any time and will not
affect any benefits that they would normally receive or they will not be
penalized for withdrawing from the study
14. The consequences of a subject’s decision to withdraw from the study
15. A statement under which the subject’s participation may be
terminated by the investigator, where appropriate
16. A statement describing the extent, if any, to which confidentiality of
records identifying the subjects will be maintained
17. An explanation of whom to contact for information about the research
study itself [name and phone number for primary investigator]
18. An explanation of whom to contact for answers to pertinent questions
about the research and research subject’s rights [name
and phone number for CHR]
19. For research involving more than minimal risk, a statement that Johns
Hopkins does not have a program to provide compensation any injuries
or bad effects which may be incurred by the subject which are not the
fault of the investigator
20. Language is understandable and written at the eighth-grade level
and in no smaller than 12 point type. If not written at 8th grade level,
please provide at what reading level the consent form was written
Completed by _________________________________________________
Page 1 of 1
69
Annex E
Annex e - Linkage between Researchers and Public Health
Building Capacity for IR/OR – Nigeria Experience in Linkage and Networking

between National Malaria Control Program and Research Institutions
1. The TDR-WHO Studies: d. TDR Community Directed Interventions (CDIs)

in the treatment of Onchocerciasis, Diarrhoea,
a. TDR-WHO Intersectoral Linkage Project: aimed Malaria, etc in 5 Sites in Nigeria (Ibadan, Iseyin,
at linking research (The Ibadan Malaria Re- Saki, Kaduna and Garba-Chede, near Jalingo,
search Group – IMRG) with policy (State Minis- Taraba State, Nigeria. Program officials visited
try of Health [SMOH], Ibadan, Oyo State) and some research laboratories and field sites sever-
Program (Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, Yemetu, ally and during documentation/dissemination
Ibadan). This was a successful project as informa- workshops and also supplied all the sites with
tion generated by the research team was adopted antimalaria commodities such as ACTs for malaria,
and approved by the State Ministry of Health long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and
through the Department of Planning, Research IPTp drugs as requested by the PI. The researchers
and Statistics; and was passed on to the State have also provided TA to programs upon request.
Hospitals Management Board, the implementing
body supervising the Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, e. TDR Malaria in the Nomads Project in Yola,
Yemetu, Ibadan. Adamawa State, Nigeria.
b. Scaling up of Community Management of 2. Drug Efficacy Trials 2002 (Chloroquine) and

Fever (Proposed) 2002 following successful 2004 (Arthemeter-Lumefanthrine and Atesunate-
implementation of the TDR-supported Commu- Amodiaqunine) to inform malaria treatment policy
nity Management of Fever and Cough project change towards Artemisinin-based Combination
in 3 communities in Igbo-Ora (Oyo State), Therapy in Nigeria in 2005. All the PIs were Research-
Ugwogwo-Nike (Abia State) and Usokwato ers who worked and are still working as Consultants
(Enugu State). The proposal, which was to be to the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP)
implemented in four states in four zones of Nigeria at all levels.
was developed in 2002 with the support of WHO.
It has a researcher as the Principal Investigator (PI) 3. Antimalaria sentinel sites monitoring to keep track of
and the NMCP Coordinator as the Co-PI. Unfor- anti-malarial tools’ effectiveness. The community sites
tunately, it was not funded due to inadequacy of are being managed by researchers in collaboration with
resources. The scope was then scaled down to a community members, program managers at LGA and
few communities in one Local Government Area State levels, with support from the national level.
(LGA) in Oyo State alone.
c. Home Management of Malaria project in Ona-

Ara LGA, Oyo State, Nigeria: Involvement of
Federal Ministry of health (FMOH), SMOH, LGA
and Communities in implementation, documen-
tation of findings and results dissemination. The
research team is now providing technical assistance
(TA) in the scaling-up process using evidence from
research for control program in six LGAs of the
Federal Capital Territory with a plan to scale to 18
States before 2008. One example of such TA is to
conduct a baseline evaluation of the feasibility of
scaled-up home-based management of malaria.
70 70
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Chemin de Blandonnet 8
1214 Vernier
Geneva, Switzerland
+ 41 22 791 1700 (phone)

+ 41 22 791 1701 (fax)
www.theglobalfund.org
[email protected]
Photo Credits
Page 12 Jordon: The Global Fund/John Rae

Page 15 Nicaragua: The Global Fund/John Rae
Page 20 Jordon: The Global Fund/John Rae
Page 26 Lesotho: The Global Fund/Guy Stubbs
Page 30 Nepal: The Global Fund/John Rae
Page 36 Burkino Faso: Panos/Neil Cooper
ISBN 92-9224-110-9

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Framework for Operations and

Implementation Research in Health

The World Bank

Mr Ivane Bochorishvili (TDR) provided valuable management support.

The framework has greatly benefited from valuable contributions provided by

For questions and comments please contact:

TDR: Dr Jane Kengeya-Kayondo at: [email protected]

Daniel Low-Beer, Robert Ridley,

Name Organization Country of Work

Dr Hoda Youssef Atta WHO EMRO Egypt

Dr Hastings Banda EQUI-TB Knowledge Program/ National TB Program Malawi

Dr Richard Carr RBM/WHO Switzerland

Dr Keith Carter AMRO/PAHO USA

Dr Alexandra De Sousa UNICEF Kenya

Dr Charles Delacollette WHO-Mekong Malaria Program Thailand

Dr Alice Desclaux Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) Senegal

Dr Elizabeth Elhassan Sight Savers International Nigeria

Dr Bayo Segun Fatunmbi WHO Representative Office Nigeria

Dr Melba Gomes MPR/TDR Switzerland

Ms Andrea Godfrey WHO TBS/STB Switzerland

Dr Scott Kellerman Population Council USA

Dr Wilford Kirungi Ministry of Health Headquarters Uganda

Dr George Alfred Ki-Zerbo WHO AFRO Congo

Professor Sinata Koulla-Shiro Ministry of Public Health Cameroon

Dr Ireen Makwiza Equi-TB Knowledge Program Malawi

Dr Kelly Mann Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease USA

Dr Kamini Nirmala Mendis GMP/WHO Switzerland

Dr Bernard Nahlen President’s Malaria Initiative, USAID USA

Dr P.R. Narayanan Tuberculosis Research Centre India

Dr Jerome Ndaruhutse Conseil National de Lutte Contre le SIDA Burundi

Dr Pierre-Yves Norval WHO TBS/STB Switzerland

Mr John Novak USAID/GH/HIV-AIDS USA

Dr Ayoade MJ Oduola STE/TDR Switzerland

Dr Philip Onyebujoh TBR/TDR Switzerland

Dr Miguel Orozco Centero de Investigaciones y Estudios de la Salud (CIES) Nicaragua

Dr Leonard I. Ortega WHO Representative Office Myanmar

Dr Jan H.F. Remme NPR/TDR Switzerland

Dr Rosalia Rodríguez-Garcia The World Bank Global Aids Program USA

Dr Deborah Rugg UNAIDS Switzerland

Dr George Schmid HIV/WHO Switzerland

Dr Bernhard Schwartländer UNAIDS China

Dr Joseph Simbaya Institute of Economic and Social Research Zambia

Dr Yves Souteyrand HIV/WHO Switzerland

Dr Sergio Spinaci GMP/WHO Switzerland

Dr Awash Teklehaimanot Director Malaria Program, Columbia University USA

Dr Zaida Yadón AMRO/PAHO Brazil

Dr Richard Zaleskis WHO EURO Denmark

Dr Christina Zarowsky International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada

Dr Matteo Zignol WHO TBS/STB Switzerland

Dr Susan Zimicki Infectious Diseases Initiative, Academy for Educational USA

Introduction to the Framework 11

SECTION B – Methods and Management Flowchart 18

SECTION C – Case Studies, Toolkit, Resources and References 34

Selected Case Studies of Operations Research 35

Introduction to the Framework 5. This framework is not intended to be a capacity-building

13. The third process in framework development was a

15. The issues and questions that OR/IR can

24. CBD is a good example of OR that eventually led the

23. OR has been used by the International Food Policy