Guinea-bissau

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is mandated with governing health research in Guinea Bissau.
Following investigations into how to enhance the benefits of health research for its population, the MOH established the National Institute of Public Health (INASA) in 2008. INASA has parastatal autonomy and reports directly to the MOH, while research institutions in the country are directly accountable to INASA. Specifically, INASA is the umbrella institute for the four organisations that represent Guinea Bissau’s national public health capacity and infrastructure: the Centre of Epidemiology & Community Health (CESC) – including the Bandim Health Project (BHP) – the Centre for Information & Communication (CICS), the Centre for Tropical Medicine, and the National Laboratory of Public Health (LNSP) (Kok, Rodrigues, Da Silva & de Haan, submitted). In addition to INASA, the National Institute of Social Science Research (INEP) within the Ministry of Education (MOE) also conducts health-related research, typically of a more qualitative than quantitative nature, and with a social science perspective. Although there are no direct links between the MOH and MOE to coordinate health-related research, staff at INASA and INEP have close partnerships, and there is talk of formalising this relationship through an official protocol. To date, stewardship for health related research at the national level has been lacking; it is expected that INASA will play a leading role in coordinating and institutionalising national research for health.