The world-wide growth of the field of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR), the boundaries of this field and its role in strengthening health systems, and strategies and priorities for building capacity in this field in South Africa are some of the key themes addressed in a recent joint publication of the three South African partners of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA).

Prof. Valéry Ridde of the University of Montreal and his colleagues have launched a new website which shares knowledge, resources and ideas derived from their work around the themes of health policy analysis, equity of access to healthcare, social inequalities of health, research methodology and humanitarian aid.

This week sees the start of an annual international research internship programme for health systems researchers, hosted by the Great Lakes University of Kisimu (GLUK), Kenya. The programme offers junior researchers the opportunity to receive training and to network with peers and facilitators from other countries.

The third annual CHEPSAA meeting will take place in Tanzania during March 2013.

Broadly, the workshop will set out:

• To consolidate and maintain momentum in taking forward CHEPSAA activities
• To account for CHEPSAA work undertaken in 2012
• To plan for CHEPSAA activities in 2013-14
• To deepen networking amongst CHEPSAA partners and with others

At the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Beijing (31 October to 3 November 2012), CHEPSAA made the following presentation:

MIRZOEV, T., LE, G., KALLIECHARAN, R., AGYEPONG, I., ERASMUS, E., GOUDGE, J., KAMUZORA, P., U., L., OKEYO, S., DE SAVIGNY, D., TOMSON, G., UZOCHUKWU, B. & GILSON, L. (2012) Capacity for Health Policy and Systems Research and Analysis in seven African universities. Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. Beijing.

The well-known journal Health Policy and Planning and the organizers of the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research have just called on authors to submit papers for a special edition of the journal that will focus on "The science and practice of people-centred health systems". Papers of which the first author is a resident in a low- and middle-income country are particularly encouraged.

Dr Chinyere Mbachu was recently admitted as a fellow of the West African College of Physicians.

Dr Mbachu is a senior resident doctor in the Department of Community Medicine of the teaching hospital of the University of Nigeria in Enugu. She has been working with the Health Policy Research Group (HPRG) of the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) on various aspects of CHEPSAA’s work plan.

An emerging scholar who has recently taken great strides in the field of health policy and systems research (HPSR) in Africa is Toyin Adeleke, the first graduate of the health systems track of UCT’s Master’s in Public Health (MPH), who has also contributed a chapter to the new South African Health Review.

The specific objectives of the workshop were to:

• Introduce participants to concepts in Health Policy analysis and to strengthen individual skills and capacity in policy analysis and management within the MOH and selected implementation and regulatory agencies.
• Support the application of the skills in practice.

It is exciting to be in a new field of research, but young researchers have to figure out how best to develop their careers in a field that is emerging. Finding other like-minded peers can also be challenging and at best, they discover that many of their peers with similar interests are in other countries!