Dr Makie Taal, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, has said that health managers and policymakers need evidence-based information to promote national decision-making in programmatic and policy matters.
Dr Taal was speaking on Wednesday at the National Health Research conference held at the Sunswing Hotel.
The conference was organized by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with the University of OSLO, Norway.
He said the research was necessary to inform policy makers the processes throughout the health sector to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of healthcare services to improve the lives of citizens.
The health permanent secretary further noted that The Gambia needs research to promote knowledge, guide policy formulation, strengthen health action and maximize the use of limited resources, to improve the health status of the population.
Dr Taal said The Gambia needs a sound health research infrastructure to enable it address its health problems.
He thanked the Government of Norway and the University of OSLO for the collaboration in this regard.
Also speaking at the forum, the permanent secretary of MOHERST, Dr Omar Barry, revealed that MOHERST provides full scholarship to all students doing medical studies and public health at the University of The Gambia.
He said that since its establishment, the ministry had been grappling with these challenges of not only providing the requisite policy direction but also how to address the acute research capacity gaps.
He added that quality assurance documents have been validated and ready to be enacted into law by the National Assembly.
These documents, he noted further, clearly outlined the policy direction on research - basic and developmental research - at national level, including health and other sectoral research matters.
