COVID-19 in Latin America and Caribbean: A determination of research priorities and call to action

Abstract

Background: The Global Health Network (www. tghn.org) established in January 2020 a community of practice to address research on COVID-19 in low/middle-income countries. Objective: To identify the COVID-19 research gaps that require urgent attention in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and to establish a local open community of practice to support its implementation. Methods: Mixed methods exploratory study. LAC-specific results, from an online Survey (quantitative approach) that assessed whether the WHO’s priority research agenda for COVID-19 is still relevant, were analysed by asking participants to rank their top three options for short- and long-term priorities. An open virtual workshop (qualitative approach) was also organised and recorded. A pragmatic thematic analysis was conducted based on the panellists’ presentations and audience questions and comments. A coding framework was generated using inductive and then deductive approaches following the WHO agenda. Results: There were 223 participants from 22 countries. A consensus was identified on priority research and innovation issues for LAC, within and outside the WHO agenda, being a high priority the necessity of social sciences studies to support biomedical scientists. Discussion: As COVID-19 cases continue to increase in LAC, we believe that our findings are useful in guiding both research networks in planning studies and funders in their decisions to allocate resources to research and innovation.