Priorities for Nutrition Research in Gaza Strip-Palestine: Experts' perception

Abstract

Background: Nutrition is one of the vital elements that contribute to good health throughout the life cycle, especially for children, women, and the elderly as highly important categories in Palestine. One of the major research challenges in evidence-informed policy making is lacking of timely and comprehensive data needed by the policy makers. However, with limited resources at various levels like in Palestine, nutrition research needs to be identified and prioritized to reflect an agreed upon agenda rather than personal interest of researchers & policy makers at Gaza Strip. Methods: A self-reported interviewing questionnaire prepared by the investigator was administered to 20 experts who served as key informants; the participants represented the key players in the area of Community Health & Nutrition at Gaza Strip i.e. (MoH, UNRWA, Academic Institution, NGOs, INGOs and Community Health & Nutrition Professionals). The sample was purposive, analysis and prioritization of findings was done through excel and use of simple descriptive statistics (means). Results: The findings showed that anemia still a priority area for research that was ranked as first to third priority for age groups of children, adolescents, pregnant & lactating women. Eating & food consumption patterns were reported as priority areas for adult & elderly age groups. The need for research studies for prevalence & etiology of nutrition deficiency as well as operation research to improve service delivery were also identified as priority areas. Establishing national research center and allocating special budget were recommended to improve nutrition research in Gaza Strip. Finally, to improve the utilization of research findings support of national nutrition committee/council to prioritize the research findings & setting them into action and the active dissemination of updated research results for stakeholders & decision makers were recommended. Conclusion: The study has valuable information that helps researchers and policy makers in Gaza to start conduct nutrition research based on identified priorities