The ministry of health has launched a five-year reproductive health priority research and learning agenda as it moves to bridge evidence gap during the development of health policies.

The agenda, developed through the division of reproductive and maternal health, seeks to guide the conduct of reproductive health research and improve the coordination of Reproductive health research and programmatic activities.

Speaking during the launch of the document, the head of the department of Family health at the ministry Dr. Isaack Bashir said the research agenda will reduce duplication and allow for prudent utilization of available resources besides guiding health sector players in addressing existing gaps in reproductive healthcare delivery.

“What is it that we are not getting right in reproductive health, are existing interventions the best in dealing with current challenges?” posed Dr. Bashir.

He said research prioritization has shown to be particularly useful to help answer strategic and programmatic issues in health care, including Sexual and Reproductive Health.

According to the head of the Reproductive and maternal health division Dr. Stephen Kaliti, research remains the driver of a nation’s curiosity to seek answers on important matters. He said in-country reproductive health research capacity is key to creating improvements in local implementation of reproductive health programs and can help prioritize reproductive health issues in a landscape of limited funding.

The National Reproductive Health Priority Research and Learning Agenda, 2022-2027 seeks to propose reproductive health research priorities stemming from an exercise conducted in 2022 that brought together researchers, program managers, research oversight and accountability institutions, counties, partners and service implementing agencies from across the country.

The documents aim to define priority reproductive health research and learning needs for Kenya through isolation of evidence gaps and guided generation of quality contextualized reproductive health information by all players, enhance efficient conduct of reproductive health research in Kenya through deliberate coordination and accountability that spurs originality, eliminate duplicity as well as enhances prudent utilization of reproductive health resources in the country. It also seeks to spur interest in local reproductive health research towards generating a body of local evidence that is readily available and accessible to inform policies and program activities in the country.