The Regional Training Center (RTC) for Good Health Research Practices in the Western Pacific Region (WPRO) of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) led the first training course on Implementation Research (IR) from August 13-16, 2019 at the Training Center, RITM.

According to Universitas Gadjah Mada – Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Center for Tropical Medicine Head of Doctoral Program Dr. Ari Probandari, IR focuses on improving the implementation of a policy, an intervention, or a program. She also mentioned that barriers to the implementation gap are explored and an implementation strategy is then designed to address the issues. 

In addition to that, RITM-RTC Head Dr. Fe J. Espino explained that “the intent [of IR] is to understand the what, why, and how interventions work in on-the-ground settings and to test approaches to improve them.”

The four-day training course targeted senior researchers of RITM along with two participants from the Hanoi University of Public Health – Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee Chair Dr. Ha Va Nhu and the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research – Molecular Parasitology Laboratory Deputy Head Dr. Livingstone W. Tavul. These researchers are being groomed to be potential IR facilitators for the WPRO-RTC in rolling out the course.

The training was supported by the World Health Organization and was in collaboration with the South East Asia Regional Office – Regional Training Office (SEARO-RTC), based at the Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia.

“These are the type of researches which lead to policy and to making changes in health procedures,” said RITM OIC Director IV Dr. Celia C. Carlos in her closing remarks. “We are now better equipped, so we can translate what we learned into our own health programs.”

by Allenor Enciso, Communication and Engagement Office