Engaging stakeholders to level up COPD care in LMICs: lessons learned from the "Breathe Well" programme in Brazil, China, Georgia, and North Macedonia.
Abstract
Background: Effective stakeholder engagement in health research is increasingly being recognised and promoted as an important pathway to closing the gap between knowledge production and its use in health systems. However, little is known about its process and impacts, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. This opinion piece draws on the stakeholder engagement experiences from a global health research programme on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) led by clinician researchers in Brazil, China, Georgia and North Macedonia, and presents the process, outcomes and lessons learned.
Main body: Each country team was supported with an overarching engagement protocol and mentored to develop a tailored plan. Patient involvement in research was previously limited in all countries, requiring intensive efforts through personal communication, meetings, advisory groups and social media. Accredited training programmes were effective incentives for participation from healthcare providers; and aligning research findings with competing policy priorities enabled interest and dialogue with decision-makers. The COVID-19 pandemic severely limited possibilities for planned engagement, although remote methods were used where possible. Planned and persistent engagement contributed to shared knowledge and commitment to change, including raised patient and public awareness about COPD, improved skills and practice of healthcare providers, increased interest and support from clinical leaders, and dialogue for integrating COPD services into national policy and practice.
Conclusion: Stakeholder engagement enabled relevant local actors to produce and utilise knowledge for small wins such as improving day-to-day practice and for long-term goals of equitable access to COPD care. For it to be successful and sustained, stakeholder engagement needs to be valued and integrated throughout the research and knowledge generation process, complete with dedicated resources, contextualised and flexible planning, and commitment.
Author
Fernandes, Genevie
Williams, Siân
Adab, Peymané
Gale, Nicola
de Jong, Corina
de Sousa, Jaime Correia
Cheng, K K
Chi, Chunhua
Cooper, Brendan G
Dickens, Andrew P
Enocson, Alexandra
Farley, Amanda
Jolly, Kate
Jowett, Sue
Maglakelidze, Maka
Maghlakelidze, Tamaz
Martins, Sonia
Sitch, Alice
Stamenova, Aleksandra
Stavrikj, Katarina
Stelmach, Rafael
Turner, Alice
Pan, Zihan
Pang, Hui
Zhang, Jianxin
Jordan, Rachel E
Williams, Siân
Adab, Peymané
Gale, Nicola
de Jong, Corina
de Sousa, Jaime Correia
Cheng, K K
Chi, Chunhua
Cooper, Brendan G
Dickens, Andrew P
Enocson, Alexandra
Farley, Amanda
Jolly, Kate
Jowett, Sue
Maglakelidze, Maka
Maghlakelidze, Tamaz
Martins, Sonia
Sitch, Alice
Stamenova, Aleksandra
Stavrikj, Katarina
Stelmach, Rafael
Turner, Alice
Pan, Zihan
Pang, Hui
Zhang, Jianxin
Jordan, Rachel E
Citations
Altmetric:
Date
2024-01-12
Type
Article
Subject
Health services. Management, Respiratory medicine
Collections
Citation
Fernandes G, Williams S, Adab P, Gale N, de Jong C, de Sousa JC, Cheng KK, Chi C, Cooper BG, Dickens AP, Enocson A, Farley A, Jolly K, Jowett S, Maglakelidze M, Maghlakelidze T, Martins S, Sitch A, Stamenova A, Stavrikj K, Stelmach R, Turner A, Pan Z, Pang H, Zhang J, Jordan RE. Engaging stakeholders to level up COPD care in LMICs: lessons learned from the "Breathe Well" programme in Brazil, China, Georgia, and North Macedonia. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Jan 12;24(1):66. doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-10525-4.
Journal / Source Title
BMC Health Services Research
DOI
10.1186/s12913-023-10525-4
PMID
38216986
Publisher
BMC
Publisher’s URL
https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/