Page 28 - Malaysian Journal of Health Promotion, Vol 4 (Supplementary 1) 2022

Malaysian Journal of Health Promotion, Vol 4 (Supplementary 1) 2022
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14 MOH-AMM Scientific Meeting 2022 in conjunction with 23 NIH Scientific Conference Abstract Book
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the primary care level. We estimate that if we could reduce this gap to 10% in only six tracer
conditions, around 1m deaths would be averted annually – twice the annual mortality for
malaria. Universal Health Coverage will never achieve its full potential in the face of such a
diagnostic gap, and control of AMR and epidemics (as in Covid 19) will never be fully successful.
The Commission makes 10 recommendations, with a number of suggested actions, to address
this crisis. The most crucial are;

At the national level:
 the creation of a diagnostics strategy for a national diagnostics system, especially aimed
at providing tests for key conditions at primary care level
 workforce reform and investment
 regulation for quality and safety
 a financing strategy

At the international level:
 action to improve affordability
 ensuring the dramatic advances in diagnostics technology (especially those resulting from
digitalisation and point of care testing) are available for all
 instigation of a major programme of advocacy starting with the adoption of a World
Health Alliance on the vital importance of diagnostics
 creation of a global diagnostics alliance to take the necessary long-term leadership role

PLENARY 3: TOWARDS IMPACTFUL RESEARCH FOR NCD

Dr. Fesul Idzwan Dato’ Mustapha
Disease Control Division,
Ministry of Health Malaysia

Impactful research can be defined from different perspectives i.e., impactful for the
researchers, the target populations, published in reputable journals, or even winning the
Nobel Prize.

In this session, the focus will be on implementation research (IR) i.e., investigates the various
factors that affect how a new policy or intervention may be used in real-life settings. IR is
important to support the successful selection of policies and interventions, and helps to
identify how to implement these policies/interventions in a population context. In addition,
when policies/interventions fail, IR help to identify whether the failure is due to intervention
or implementation failure.

It is important to know in depth the IR cycle; however, there are three practical steps on how
to undertake IR:

(1) Identify: Situation and knowledge synthesis. Establish a group of relevant
stakeholders (including people with lived experiences), and they need to be engaged
in knowledge exchange activities.
(2) Adapt: Social validity. To put this simply, how acceptable is the policy/intervention in
the local context?

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