Review and future perspectives of "development study" in the health sectors

ABSTRACT

The research project titled “Developing Technical Approaches for the Master Plan of the Health Sector International Cooperation ” has been conducted for the duration of three years from 2002 by the support of grants-in-aid for research on international medical cooperation from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Based upon comprehensive and detailed review on the development studies (DS) in the health sectors so far completed, and throughout extensive and detailed examinations on the various DS related issues at the organized workshops with the parties concerned, the following propositions were made for the orientation and possible improvement of future DS in the health sectors; 1) a master plan in the individual DS to be defined in association with the level of strategy with which the study deals, 2) the instruction of surveys and methods to be more crystallized, 3) appropriate survey methods with reproducibility to be employed, 4) qualitative researches to be complimentarily exercised with quantitative researches 5) the ownership of DS to be cultivated by adoption of participatory methods.