Mapping Research Gaps in Paediatric Care

 A recent Operational Research (OR) workshop in Paris marked a significant step towards better shaping the future of paediatric research within MSF, following a joint initiative by LuxOR (MSF Luxembourg/OCB research unit) and the Paediatric Platform. In the first phase, an online survey was conducted to gather input from paediatric project staff, which generated over 100 research ideas. Following this, a 2-day workshop was convened to further map the gaps and score the research ideas, adapting the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) prioritisation method.The CHNRI approach is a crowdsourcing-based process that helps organizations prioritize research projects by assessing relevance, answerability, and feasibility in a cost-effective way.   

The workshop resulted in the identification of four key thematic areas: 

 These themes will guide MSF’s efforts to address critical gaps in paediatric health and nutrition. 

The MSF Paediatric Days is a yearly two-day conference that aims at catalysing the paediatric knowledge and engage paediatric professionals, within and outside MSF. It is a forum to exchange and learn. This year, the 7^th  Paediatric Days takes place in Amman and  provides an opportunity to follow up on the Paris workshop and move from idea generation to concept note drafting.  
This is also an opportunity for Luxor to present these priorities to the paediatric community within MSF from an operational research perspective – in order to continue, with other research collaborators, to build this important portfolio. This can play a key role in evidence-based decision-making and advocacy.