First Latin American Conference on Research and Innovation for Health
16-18 April 2008, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Latin American Conference on Research and Innovation for Health was the first meeting of its kind in Latin America that brought together a broad range of people and organizations with an interest in health research and health research systems.

The Conference was hosted by the Ministry of Health of Brazil (Department of Science and Technology) and had been jointly organized with the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), the Global Forum for Health Research, INSalud Mexico, the NicaSalud Network Federation, and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO).

Speaking at the conference plenary, Professor Stephen Matlin, Executive Director of the Global Forum for Health Research, provided a global panorama of research and innovation for health. Read the full presentation.

• Bring together countries in Latin America to discuss successes and challenges in research for health and the development of their national health research systems;
• Strengthen the links between the health research and the science, technology and innovation sectors;
• Define strategies and actions for future cooperation within Latin America;
• Stimulate the formation of partnerships that will facilitate addressing health equity and development through research;
• Increase the interest in external research sponsors in supporting this process.

Participants

The focus was on Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America and on organizations working in or with these countries.

Conference themes

• National Health Research Systems: Participants discussed the current status of national health research systems in the region and work on strategies and action plans for strengthening these. Issues covered included: priority setting processes for health research; health research and science & technology policy development; management of health research systems and the linkage to science & technology systems; and the bioethical frameworks of research for health in the countries.
• Financing for research for health: This theme focused on the identification of innovative strategies for funding of health research systems and health research priorities at both the national and regional levels, looking at funding sources from private and public sectors as well as interactions between private and public partners.
• Innovation, product development and access: The discussion considered interactions between health research and the productive sector towards product development and innovation and how the potential of products derived from health research in Latin America can reinforce innovation. The group also discussed issues of access to products from research, strategies to ensure their affordability for the poorest segments of the population, and on long-term investments planned to ensure innovation is relevant for the nation.
• Human resources for health research: Discussion considered strategies for capacity building at individual, institutional and system level, capacity strengthening, evaluation and brain drain. It focused on long-term strategies planned and/or implemented by countries to ensure staff retention, training and re-training, as well as the activities and incentives aiming at creating the infrastructure and conditions to attract returning scientists back home.

Regional collaboration was a cross-cutting theme for the working groups. All groups considered ‘south-south collaboration’ between countries in the region, between existing regional research networks, with key northern partners (research institutes, funders of research), and identified mechanisms that can stimulate collaboration.

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Last updated 24 April 2008