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The Political Economy of Universal Health Coverage Reforms: building capacity and engagement of francophone Africa

Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a global priority to ensure health for all and reduce health inequalities (SDG3.8). However, progress towards UHC is an inherently political process.

Political economy analysis (PEA) is an essential tool in the field of health policy and system research to shed light on the barriers and facilitators of UHC reforms. Although recent work has been done to develop PEA frameworks for UHC and to apply PEA, francophone Africa remains understudied and underrepresented in the research arena.

The project aims to develop a research partnership to catalyse a formative, collaborative programme of work and to strengthen research management, dissemination capacity and research skills in the domain of PEA. The objective is to establish an active and engaged programme of PEA research in francophone Africa to support UHC progress, grounded in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, from government bodies to civil society groups.

Our ambition is to develop a future research project focused on the application of PEA and the creation of a network of national observatories to analyse the political dynamics underlying UHC reforms in a prospective way, with the aim of promoting evidence-informed and politically savvy decision-making and implementation for UHC.

This project aims to develop a strong, effective and equitable research partnership between research institutions in the UK and francophone Africa and to strengthen research capacity in the area of political economy for UHC. Our goal is to contribute to progress towards UHC by building networks with stakeholders and communities.

NIHR Research Unit on Health in Fragility (RUHF)

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NIHR Research Unit on Health in Fragility (RUHF)

NIHR Research Unit on Health in Fragility (RUHF) 0131 474 0000