Bridging the ‘two communities’: how an emerging primary healthcare global research consortium can help achieve universal health coverage in low and middle-income countries

Abstract

### Summary box > We had done so much work, earned recognition, but solved nobody’s problem. > > (Dr Abhay Bang)1 World leaders reconvened at the 40th anniversary of the 1978 Alma Ata declaration to renew their commitment to primary healthcare (PHC) as the key to attaining Health for All, the goals of universal health coverage (UHC) and the sustainable development goals (SDGs).2 Among affirmations made was the commitment to apply knowledge in order to support multisectoral stakeholder collaborations to strengthen PHC systems. The Declaration of Astana recognised that effective knowledge generation and translation strategies focused on PHC are critical to attaining these global goals. This recognition echoes a global call for evidence-informed healthcare policy and decision-making for over two decades.3 However, one challenge is Nathan Caplan’s theorised ‘two communities’: the research community (knowledge producers) and the policy/practice community (knowledge consumers), each with intrinsically different perspectives and priorities.4 The association between evidence and policy is not always rational or sequential, given that researchers may not produce the evidence and knowledge needed, policymakers may not always choose to take evidence-informed actions, or may choose to use evidence in ways unacceptable to researchers such as to support predetermined positions or decisions.5 The recent World Report on Health Policy and …