Essential justice considerations for HPSR projects and programmes
| Essential justice considerations | Who is responsible for considering them |
| HPSR priority setting | |
| Do funding platforms and calls prioritise research on equity in health systems and their structural determinants? | Funders during priority setting |
| Are local actors from LMICs included in making decisions about the topics of HPSR funding platforms and calls? | Funders during priority setting |
| Do funding platforms and calls require or permit lead applicants from LMICs? | Funders during priority setting |
| Do funding requirements ensure sufficient funding of local actors and institutions to perform their roles? | Funders during priority setting |
| Research teams | |
| Does the research team include local researchers and other local actors from populations involved in the study or at least with deep knowledge about those populations? Will they be included as partners and be part of decision-making throughout the project: from selecting research questions and designing the study to dissemination? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when assembling teams | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Are research team members familiar with the sociopolitical historical background of populations involved in the study and the social inequalities they experience? | Researchers and partners when assembling teams |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Are any inadequacies in research team composition and representation of local actors, especially marginalised groups and health system actors, recognised and discussed? | Researchers and partners when assembling teams |
| Are systematic initiatives undertaken for local actors who are part of the research team to strengthen their capacity to conduct independent HPSR? | Researchers and partners when assembling teams |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Research questions | |
| Are local researchers and other local actors on the research team leading or, at a minimum, part of decision-making on the research questions? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Will disadvantaged and marginalised groups or health system actors (or organisations representing them) share decision-making as part of the research team or, at a minimum, be consulted in setting the research questions? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Do the research questions align with the priorities of disadvantaged and marginalised groups or health system actors? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Will answering the research questions create new knowledge of value for equitable health systems? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Research populations | |
| Does the research population and participants adequately include disadvantaged and marginalised groups and health system actors? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Will research project recruitment be informed by and be respectful of marginalised groups’ past experiences with research and will meaningful engagement be conducted? | Researchers and partners when designing and implementing projects |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Identifying and responding to harms | |
| Will engagement and communication systems be set up that anticipate and keep track of harms generated by HPSR, especially for local actors within the research team, communities and health systems? | Researchers and partners when designing and implementing projects |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| How will the study team act to minimise anticipated harms and issues that eventuate to disadvantaged and marginalised groups and health system actors while also ensuring that the integrity of the science and the learning—especially about the most vulnerable within systems and communities—is maintained? | Researchers and partners when designing and implementing projects |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Research capacity development and health system strengthening | |
| Do funding platforms require and support strengthening individual and institutional capacity within LMICS to conduct independent HPSR? | Funders during priority setting |
| How will the project’s design, implementation, publication and data sharing plans strengthen individual and institutional capacity within LMICS to conduct independent HPSR? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| How will the study strengthen study participants’ health systems? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| How will the project’s design, implementation, publication and data sharing plans minimise the risk of worsening disparities in research capacity? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Creating lasting change | |
| Does the funding platform require and support knowledge translation of HPSR findings into health and social policy and practice? | Funders during priority-setting |
| What efforts will be made to maximise positive outcomes or benefits post-study for disadvantaged and marginalised groups and health system actors? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing and implementing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| How are actors with the power to change health and social policies engaged? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Researchers and partners when designing and implementing projects | |
| Ethics committees when reviewing projects | |
| Research funding allocation | |
| Is funding is allocated to HPSR research teams and projects that have been assembled and designed with justice considerations in mind? | Funders when allocating resources |
| Do decisions about research funding allocation include local actors from LMICs? | Funders when allocating resources |
HPSR, health policy and systems research; LMICs, low-income and middle-income countries.