BU Research Blog

Today and tomorrow our research team is engaged in discussions with those responsible for running the health system at different levels of the new federal system in Nepal.  The aim today and tomorrow of this participatory research project is bring together stakeholders from all levels of government (local, provincial and federal), to develop solutions, practical actions and recommendations for different levels of the political system to address some of the five areas our research identified as possible priorities.  Nepal changed from a centralised political system of government to a federal system in 2015.  It is easy to see how such change in the political system  might affect the organisation, funding, governance, human resources, etc. of all sub-systems in society, such as the education system, the police, and in the area of our particular interest, the health system.

This interdisciplinary study started just before COVID-19 in 2020 and is now coming to a conclusion. The multi-national research team includes researchers from Nepal: MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Sciences) in Kathmandu, and PHASE Nepal (Bhaktapur), the University of Sheffield, Bournemouth University, and the University of Huddersfield (the original UK applicants), and researchers currently based at three further UK universities: the University of Greenwich, the University of Essex and Canterbury Christ Church University.  This exciting research is funded by the Health System Research Initiative, a UK collaboration between three funders: the MRC (Medical Research Council), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the Welcome Trust.