The 63rd Session of the Regional Committee took place from 2 to 6 September 2013 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. During the meeting, a side-event on “Networking of public health research institutions in the African Region” was held on 3 September 2013.

The Ministers of Health and representatives from public health research institutions shared they experiences and identified key challenges during the discussions. The main ones were: lack of a regional network of public health research institutions, absence of a forum or mechanisms that bring policy makers and researchers together to share information, difficulties of translating research findings into public health actions and limited use of research findings by National Governments. Concern was also raised in relation to the expected reporting related to the RC resolution on Centers of Excellence.

In order to address the above issues, participants proposed the following actions: revitalization of the African research forum; strengthening of the Advisory Committee on Health Research; establishment of mechanisms for sharing information on research at country and regional levels; and enhancement of partnership and collaboration between the different public health research institutions. WHO was also requested to finalize the mapping of public health research institutions in the region and share this information with Member States.