Overview 

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Knowledge generation 

While research is often disseminated, there is, to date, no formal system in Cambodia to bridge research findings to policy. The number of HPSR reports produced, while remaining fairly small, increased from 12 in 2019 to 14 in 2020. This is still a decline since 2018, when there were 17 reports. The Department of Hospital Services produced 5 of the 17 reports published in 2018, while the National Centre for Health Promotion (NCHP) produced around one-third of the HPSR reports published in both 2019 and 2020.

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

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Engaging policy-makers and the public 

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Academic and institutional capacity 

There is limited capacity to conduct HPSR in Cambodia, with a shortage of local and technical expertise. HPSR training within the relevant government institutions remains a challenge, with limited interest among policy-makers and a lack of mutual understanding between policy-makers and researchers, and no single institution is responsible for HPSR coordination.

There has, however, been a marked increase in the number of students participating in HPSR courses, which has more than doubled from 39 to 95 over the past several years. The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) – with its 90 students in 2020 – accounts for the vast majority of this increase. 

The NIPH, which is mandated to bring scientific evidence to policy, has been expanding its capacity to conduct HPSR and identify strategies to lead HPSR training for health professionals. The NIPH has good collaboration with the Institute for Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium, on strategies to build capacity among staff through sandwich PhD programmes throughout project implementation. In addition, NIPH has had more opportunity to build capacity on the area of HPSR among NIPH staff through a mentorship programme funded by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at WHO.

Despite these indications of progress, HPSR capacity still needs to be strengthened – both among NIPH staff members in line with its new strategic plan and those in other institutions. Greater efforts are needed to gain political support, and, ultimately, increase the national budget for HPSR.

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HPSR financing

The government has provided a budget to the NIPH since 2019, amounting to US$ 180 000 in 2020. However, this budget is not large enough to bridge research findings to policy and the NIPH continues to face a lack of funding for HPSR production and technical capacity. In addition, the budget is not guaranteed: it remains dependent on the availability of government finance in each fiscal year.

The majority of HPSR funding in Cambodia comes from external sources. It is not possible to document its precise level, however, because the working definition of HPSR is not consistent across the institutions that receive such funding, resulting in a lack of accessible and accurate information.

Total institutional expenditure

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