The document published by the Observer Research Foundation presents a comprehensive analysis of the literature on development assistance in health between 2000 and 2022.
The study reveals critical findings, including disparities in research output and significant policy recommendations. The bibliometric analysis highlights various themes, including funding patterns, recipient-centric research, donor-centric literature, health focus areas, commentaries on DAH, and grant analysis. Moreover, it emphasises the importance of research and knowledge creation in health aid, particularly in identifying research gaps and disparities, and the need for more representative contributions from the recipients of development assistance in health.
The study uncovers several crucial findings, such as the decline in research output on development assistance in health since 2017, the limited focus on non-governmental organizations, philanthropies, and private businesses despite their significant contribution to development assistance, and the predominant representation of high-income countries in the research output. Furthermore, the analysis reveals disparities in research output across countries, themes, and regions. The document underlines the significance of bibliometric analysis as a useful tool for literature review and policy recommendation collation in the field of public policy, shedding light on the political economy surrounding knowledge creation. However, the study also acknowledges certain limitations, such as the unavailability of impact evaluation studies from all DAH donors, funding constraints for researchers in lower-income countries, and confidentiality of impact evaluation studies conducted by donors and recipient countries and organisations.
In conclusion, the document emphasizes the need for further research to address the decline in research output, analyse lessons and learnings in aid effectiveness, and conduct bibliometric analysis of specific health areas or individual country experiences. The study highlights the importance of understanding the cause of the decline in research output, analyzing lessons in aid effectiveness, and conducting further research to address gaps in the literature on development assistance in health.