Overview 

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Knowledge generation 

The knowledge generated in the health sector aims to respond to the priority health problems identified by central government, but the research that is conducted is often carried out in a disparate and poorly coordinated way and tends to respond to the priorities of international funders. In addition, little knowledge is produced on neglected health problems.

There has been a decline in the number of HPSR reports and published journal articles reported by HPSR institutions since 2018, falling from 86 in 2018 to 65 in 2020.

Average number of reports produced per institution each year in Niger and overall

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Engaging policy-makers and the public 

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Academic and institutional capacity 

The number of HPSR faculty, which has been comparatively high, has fallen slightly, from 1300 in 2018 to 1000 in 2020. In contrast, participants in HPSR courses surged between 2018 and 2019, from 207 to 355, with their numbers holding steady in 2020. The National Association of Traditional Healers of Niger accounted for the majority of students in 2020.

The decentralization of the university system has improved student access to higher health studies at the regional level, with the promotion of research through the creation of Master’s degrees in research and in health anthropology. In addition, LASDEL provides summer schools for university trainees, as well as training workshops for health professionals in the sub-region.

While many health schools have been created in the capital and in the regions to provide training in research, they remain hampered by poor governance and the poor functioning of research units.

The adoption of the so-called Licence, Master, Doctorate (LMD) system has changed the functioning of health schools. However, most health schools lack the resources to implement the LMD reform in full, which receives no central funding from the state.

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HPSR financing

The Nigerien state does not provide significant financial support for research and there is no dedicated and specific national budget for this area. The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) devotes less than 2% of its resources to research, a percentage that does not meet the minimum suggested by the Algiers Declaration of Health Research. Research at the MoPH depends on bilateral partnerships and international NGOs for both the selection of research topics and for research funding.

Despite this lack of government funding, overall, institutions engaging in HPSR reported that their total HPSR budget per year has more than doubled, from US$ 0.9 million to US$ 2.4 million. In terms of funding per institution, a jump in funding between 2019 and 2020 is, in large part, the result of large hikes for a very small number of institutions.

Most funding comes from external development assistance through vertical programmes, which reduces the room for manoeuvre available to research institutions because they cannot be used for core funding. The main research funders are international NGOs (Médecins du Monde, Concern Worldwide, Helen Keller International, Médecins sans Frontières, etc.), bilateral donors (Agence française de développement, KFW [Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau] and USAID), and multilateral sources (Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, European Union and the United Nations agencies).

Total institutional expenditure

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