Getting research findings into practice: Implementing research findings in developing countries

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Abstract
This is the last in a series of eight articles analysing the gap between research and practice Series editors: Andrew Haines and Anna Donald Developing countries have limited resources, so it is particularly important to invest in health care that works. The growing number of relevant systematic reviews can assist policymakers, clinicians, and consumers in making informed decisions. Developing countries have led the way in generating approaches to ensure professional standards of behaviour through interventions such as producing guidelines and introducing essential drug programmes, and by producing reliable research summaries to help ensure that policies are based on good evidence. ### Summary points Yakamul, an illiterate villager in Papua New Guinea, was sitting by a fire listening to a health professional from the West tell her to take chloroquine throughout her pregnancy. She responded: “I ting merisin bilong ol wait man bai bagarapim mi [I think this Western medicine could harm me].” She had never attended a workshop in critical appraisal butshe realised that medicine could do her more harm than good. Her response reminds health professionals to ask fundamental questions about the care we provide and of our responsibility …