HRWeb Americas: a tool to facilitate better research governance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Major progress has been made in improving health in Latin America and the Caribbean and life expectancy has increased considerably in the Americas. However, major concerns still exist since this progress has not reached all members of society and inequality remains high in the region 1. Research can address this problem and fortunately there is growing international recognition that quality research can improve health, reduce health inequities and foster development 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. Research enables countries to address complex health problems and find innovative solutions. Notwithstanding, a 2002 assessment of progress regarding the eleven Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) in the Americas found that “research in public health” (one of EPHF) remains amongst the weakest of these functions despite being essential to attaining more functional and efficient health systems 2. A number of events led a multidisciplinary and intersectorial working group in the Americas to recognize that a national health research system (NHRS) with good governance is essential for research to play an effective role in advancing health and creating a robust health system that improves the health of the population with equity. This group also defined the components of this system 2,3,6,7,8,9,13. After the Follow-up Meeting to the First Latin American Conference on Research and Innovation for Health (Havana, Cuba, 2009), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) joined forces to focus on strengthening NHRSs 7 and to this end the HRWeb Americas was created and is the focus of this article.