The researchers say this attrition further decreases the number of future health professionals being trained by current scientists, which directly affects the amount of research being done in Pakistan and benefiting its citizens. The study found that highly-trained researchers who return to Pakistan face many problems including underutilization of their expertise and lack of funding and laboratory space.

The study, "Capacity development for health research in Pakistan: the effects of doctoral training," is the first attempt to assess the impact of the health research development programs in Pakistan and is published in the September 2003 issue of Health Policy and Planning.

A technical consultant for the study, Adnan Hyder, MD, MPH, PhD, assistant professor and the Leon Robertson Faculty Development Chair in the School's Department of International Health, said, "Research capacity development is a broad concept covering the planning, development, implementation, evaluation and sustainability of a complex phenomenon. Non-financial disincentives are one of the major challenges in attracting and retaining trained health care workers in countries like Pakistan."

The study's authors surveyed 54 Pakistani researchers who received doctoral training outside of the country on funded programs. They found that the study participants, who were overwhelmingly male (50 men and four women), wrote only, on average, 15 articles and trained nine students after returning to Pakistan. The respondents also reported a lack of research grants to sustain research efforts. Only two percent of the study respondents received more than two grants post-training to continue
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Contact: Kenna Brigham
paffairs@jhsph.edu
410-955-6878
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
2-Sep-2003