World Health Organization Human Reproduction Program Alliance Research and Knowledge Transfer Hub

Project Period

August 2017 - September 2024

In most Sub-Saharan African countries, seldom are sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) policies informed by research evidence. Thus, existing policies tend to be discriminatory, impractical, or non-inclusive. There is need for capacity strengthening among SRHR researchers in the Anglophone African region to develop research leaders and partners who will drive generation of evidence and institutionalization of innovations to inform policy. Led by APHRC, the World Health Organization Human Reproduction Program (WHO-HRP) Alliance Research and Knowledge Transfer Hub seeks to enable African institutions to generate their own appropriate and contextual solutions to SRHR challenges and adopt them into policy and practice.

Specific Objectives

  1. To strengthen capacities of individuals to engage effectively in SRHR implementation research, policy process and dissemination of SRHR research output
  2. To support institutionalization of tools developed by trained individuals at their home institutions or regions
  3. To enhance uptake of research output in policy-making via facilitation of researchers-policymakers interactions and other dissemination efforts

Expected outcomes

  1. Trained SRHR research leaders capable of driving SRHR research agenda in their respective institutions and countries
  2. Strengthened African institutions and countries capable of generating their own appropriate and contextual solutions to SRHR challenges and adopt them into policy and practice
  3. Establishment of a high-quality knowledge translation infrastructure capable of providing evidence-informed, relevant and cost-oriented support to policymakers on SRHR issues.

Project outputs so far

Since inception, the project has built the research capacities of 458 researchers through 16 short courses and workshops on SRHR-related topics. The project has also supported four masters’ students currently working on SRHR topics to complete their master’s projects, published four papers, presented a toolkit on adolescent health at an international conference, and won four grants jointly with partner institutions/hubs. The hub has also conducted six webinars involving Anglophone and Francophone African countries reaching more than 428 individuals.

Duration

Start Date: August 2017

End Date: September 2024

Team

  • PI: Evelyn Gitau
  • Project Manager: Hesborn Wao
  • Post-Doctoral Research Scientist: Anne Khisa
  • Project Coordinator: Peter Muriuki
  • Project Assistant: Lisa Omondi
  • Grants Officer: Winnie Chepkemoi
  • Project Accountant: Kevin Kiiru

Partners

  1. Makerere University College of Health Sciences-Dep ObGyn
  2. Kenya Paediatric Research Consortium
  3. University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences
  4. Eagle Research Center
  5. Pauls Hospital Millennium Medical College
  6. Ifakara Health Institute
  7. Aga Khan University (AKU), Kenya

Funder

The project is funded by World Health Organization’s Human Reproduction Program (WHO-HRP) Alliance usually referred to as ‘WHO-HRP Alliance’.