Table 4.

Priorities for short- term policy briefs and specific evidence needs*

Priority topics for short-term policy briefs	Specific evidence needs
1. National health insurance and universal health coverage	Means to implement effective national health insurance schemes
	Accurate estimation of health utilization and expenditure from the private and public sectors including out-of-pocket expenditure.
2. Healthcare quality	Ways to improve the quality of service delivery including Accreditation strategies.
	Ways that can enable the use of performance indicators to improve quality.
	Information on patient satisfaction.
	Information on performance indicators (clinical, human resources productivity and performance).
3. Human resources for health	Effective incentives mechanisms for the management of healthcare workforce including training, salaries, and performance-based payments.
	Means to reduce disparities among the distribution of healthcare workers in order to meet national population needs.
4. Financial resources and allocation: budgeting and government health expenditure	Means to allocate health budgets and spending based on population needs and priorities.
	Information on the supply system to hospitals and healthcare centers.
5. Maternal and child mortality	Ways to reduce maternal and infant mortality.
6. Management of healthcare facilities	Ways to better manage healthcare facilities by the state.
7. Building national information systems	Means to develop national information systems for the population.
8. Non-communicable diseases with a focus on cancer and diabetes	Means to improve accessibility and services of programs for non-communicable diseases.

*Themes are reported in order of their recurrence across countries, from the most frequently reported (common across six countries) to those less frequently reported (common across two countries).