Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa (IMCHA)

This project aims to generate solutions to critical maternal newborn and child health (MNCH) challenges and to support the uptake of research findings into policies and programs that result in strengthened primary health care systems. The project funds 19 teams conducting 28 implementation research projects in 11 sub-Saharan African countries. Implementation research informs the implementation of health policies and programs. The 11 countries include Burkina Faso Ethiopia Kenya Malawi Mali Mozambique Nigeria Senegal South Sudan Tanzania and Uganda. Research teams are composed of a principal investigator based at an African institution; a Canadian co-principal investigator from a research institution in Canada; and a decision-maker with management authority from the local district or national health service. These teams work to explore how innovative interventions can be implemented and scaled up to improve health equity for women and children. The project also funds two health policy and research organizations – one in West Africa and one in East Africa – to facilitate connections between researchers and decision-makers strengthen research capacity among the teams and promote knowledge translation of the research results. The project is jointly-funded by Global Affairs Canada the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) enhanced production analyses and syntheses of health systems implementation research prioritizing gender and equity; (2) enhanced partnering and collaboration between decision makers and researchers on health systems strengthening in the selected countries; and (3) enhanced integration of health systems research findings into primary health care policies and practice in selected countries.