Table 1.

Criteria for ranking research priority areas

Criteria	As determined by
Appropriateness	Ethical and moral issues
	Availability of pre-existing data
	Culturally accepted
Relevance	Equity focus and community concern/demand
	The size of the problem
	Contributes to the national and sector objectives
Feasibility	Capacity of the system to support the research
	Financial and human resources available
	Cultural/political environment
Impact of research outcome	Chance/opportunity to implement the research
	Use of the research results
	Link of the research to policy decisions
	Overall reduction of the problem, including cost
Opportunity to strengthen collaboration with partners	Presence of capable partners
	Availability of partner infrastructure and resources
	Possibility that potential partners will collaborate to undertake the research
	Possibility of greater research outcome with partner involvement