An implementation science training hub, the African HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Health Implementation Research Institute (Afri-HIGH-IRI), has opened at UKZN and the University of Zambia (UNZA).
The UKZN hub is led by Research and Innovation Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the world-renowned public health expert, Professor Mosa Moshabela while the UNZA hub is led by the Dean of Public Health there, Dr Hikabasa Halwiindi.
Afri-HIGH-IRI is a regional hub of the lead HIGH-IRI, a programme focused on implementation science training, based at the Centre for Dissemination and Implementation at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The HIGH IRI programme is directed by Professor Elvin Geng and Professor Ross Brownson, who have joined forces with UKZN and several other African countries that have been collaborating with colleagues over the past couple of years to expand the project in the region.
Moshabela says it is important to introduce the culture of implementation science in countries like South Africa because a major gap exists between policy and implementation. Researchers put in a lot of effort into programmes but they did not always translate it into impactful results. ‘We are now drawing on the scholarship of implementation science to enhance our capability and capacity to succeed in translating knowledge and evidence into practice and impact.’
Moshabela was speaking at a stimulating two-day Train the Trainers workshop held in Durban to prepare for the hub’s launch, advancing emerging health sciences faculty with domain-specific knowledge about implementation research, in particular, in areas and methods of relevance for Africa’s setting, and elevating their training and mentoring skills.
Presented by local and international implementation scientists, the workshop navigated the distinctive landscape of this field in the African context, with implications for training and mentoring, which is envisaged to be of major benefit in HIV, infectious diseases and global health implementation research, yielding much-needed public health interventions.
Key to this programme is the acknowledgment that the workforce involved is often closely intertwined with health systems, and that both the challenges as well as assets for implementing evidence-based health interventions contain distinctive elements.
International and in-person delegates engaged in virtual discussions during a mini-symposium which was part of the workshop, shared their experiences around implementation science and its undoubted benefits. Moshabela said there were many pitfalls around implementation science because it was a relatively young field. ‘This is the response that we would like to bring to South Africa and to Africa in an attempt to close that implementation gap,’ he said.
In recognising the diversity in personal and professional pathways that characterise the African academic landscape, the workshop aimed to define the ways in which the Afri-HIGH IRI can best advance regional careers.
The delegates developed a distinctive set of priorities and perspectives in training and mentoring for the Afri-HIGH IRI based on regional needs as well as identified assets and opportunities in the faculty pool. The methodological expertise of the participants was advanced through starting several pod-based workstreams designed to lead to high impact papers in the implementation science literature that highlight contributions that regional perspectives can offer the field of implementation research as a whole.
Robust discussions stemmed from local and international case studies presented. It is envisaged that the stage is set for a new chapter in implementation science in Africa.
Armed with a deep understanding of the importance of context and interdisciplinary collaboration, the Afri-HIGH-IRI team is poised to make waves in the global health arena.
Words: Lunga Memela
Photograph: Sethu Dlamini