Underutilization of Qualitative Evidence in the Production and Implementation of Health Policy in Developing Countries

Historically, qualitative research was rarely utilized to investigate public health problems as compared to the widely employed quantitative methods.¹ Public health is not only about quantitative numbers but also described qualitatively from the perspective of community beliefs and experiences.² Qualitative methods will help for thorough understanding of health system challenges and inform public health programs by examining how is the strategy working, which is going well, what are the challenges. Therefore, a depth understanding of such complexities and overarching contributors beyond numerical measures are required. Addressing such elements were not possible by a simple quantitative approach alone and qualitative exploration of the sociocultural interactions, community views, prior experiences and beliefs behind the determinants of health are essential.³ Read more...