Barriers and incentives for conducting research amongst the Ophthalmologists in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

13 Background 14 Research is a critical component amongst the strategies to improve health 15 outcomes of any country. The role of research assumes greater importance in 16 Africa as it carries a larger share of global burden of diseases, blindness and low 17 vision. "Vision 2020-the Right to Sight" is a WHO-IAPB collaborated initiative 18 aiming to eliminate preventable blindness by the year 2020. High quality research 19 in eye care is imperative for the initiative to succeed, however, there is a dearth of 20 research in eye care in sub Saharan Africa in general and specifically in the 21 Eastern, Central and Southern African (ECSA) region. Identifying the barriers that 22 hamper research in this region is an important step towards elimination of 23 preventable blindness. 24 Methods 25 A structured questionnaire using the SurveyMonkey program was sent to 26 ophthalmologists in the ECSA region and South Africa through their respective 27 regional professional bodies. Data was analyzed using the SPSS program version. 28 Results 29 Lack of funding, inadequate time and poor research knowledge were the main 30 research barriers while ability to improve eye health care through research was the 31 main incentive for conducting research. 32 Conclusion 33 The barriers mainly center on financial, human and administrative infrastructure 34 and resources. In spite of the barriers, ophthalmologists in the study region are 35 enthusiastic in research aiming to increase evidence based knowledge to improve 36 eye health care in line with the goals of "Vision 2020-the Right to Sight" 37 initiative. 38 Key words: Research productivity, barriers, incentives, vision 2020. 39 Abstract word count: 233 40