Jimenez Soto, E. et al. PLOS Medicine, 2012; 9 (8)
Summary points
At the sub-national level—where most health services are delivered—critical knowledge and capacity gaps exist, which prevent evidence from making a direct contribution to health plans and budgets.
The Investment Case framework pairs locally led problem-solving analysis with quantitative techniques to inform local planning and decision-making.
The framework allows for the development of locally appropriate strategies to overcome identified health system constraints and it estimates cost and impact should such strategies be implemented.
The varied success of this initiative in terms of influencing annual plans and budgets reflects the political nature of resource allocation and the need to embed such approaches in the local policy process.
To sustain evidence-based planning, we propose a collaborative arrangement that allows researchers to address specific evidence gaps and health managers to focus on their core business of delivering universal health coverage.