Call for Abstracts | Health Systems Global

*Please note, the call for organized session abstracts is now closed as the deadline of February 22, 2022 at 12 noon EST has passed.

Deadline for Individual Abstracts: April 15, 2022 (12 pm noon EST)

Submit Individual Abstracts here

HSG is pleased to invite abstract submissions for the 7^th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR2022), to be held in Bogota, Colombia October 31 – November 4, 2022. Read below for theme details, field building requirements, and submission guidelines.

Themes and Sub-Themes

Theme: Systems Performance in the Political Agenda: Sharing lessons for current and future global challenges.

Health systems face significant challenges all around the world. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals how valuable strong health systems are to society, lays bare multiple weaknesses in low-, middle- and high-income settings alike, and has also shown us that now, more than ever, trust and solidarity, equity and social justice are the central and most important values from which to build back stronger, more resilient health systems.

HSR2022 aims to face the challenge of optimally sharing – and learning from – the experiences of the last two years. A health system’s capacity to analyze and respond to new research and emerging knowledge must be central for responding to existing and future health needs. It aims to further explore how to deal with the structural issues that all health systems face. We look forward to learning about how different contexts tackled challenges related to how the larger social, political, and economic determinants of health shape service provision; the training and deployment of human resources for health, and how valuable they are in light of their role during the pandemic; but most importantly, for how the intersection of politics and health policy influence the quality of care.

Within the overarching Symposium theme, we invite abstracts linked to the following four sub-themes.

Each of them considers structural and contextual components where COVID-19 is the main protagonist.

Sub-theme 1: The politics and policies of health systems
Sub-theme 2: Intersectoral collaboration and integrative governance on the road for health in all policies
Sub-theme 3: The changing dynamics of health provision models to promote equity, and the central role of human resources for health
Sub-theme 4: The role of comprehensive primary health care in promoting sustainability, and the contribution of new technologies

Please access and read the full theme document for detailed information – available in English, Spanish, and French.

In addition to addressing important thematic areas, the Symposium also seeks to build the field of health systems research.

Abstracts should include one or more of the following field-building dimensions:

Cutting-edge conceptual, empirical, and/or synthesis research
Innovative research approaches, methods, and measures
Successful and/or novel strategies for developing capacity
Platforms and mechanisms to share and translate knowledge
Innovative practice in health systems development

Abstract Submission Guidelines: How to Apply

Organized Sessions:

Organizers may submit proposals for 90-minute sessions and select from one of two ‘session type’ categories:

Participatory session: This format could take the form of a round table discussion, debate, ‘fishbowl’ discussion, simulation, game, pyramid session, group modelling, or any other approach that actively encourages audience participation.

Panel presentation: This format is the traditional panel presentation, and must allow adequate time for audience discussion and interaction.

Submission Requirements:

The organized session abstract submission requires the following information:

Title (maximum 25 words)
Session type
Thematic area and field-building dimension
The session organizer’s contact details
Contributors’ details: the session chair/ moderator and a maximum of four/five named additional contributors who will play active roles in the session; highlight if lead author is from a low- or middle-income country
A short (50 word) overview of the organized session that will appear in the Symposium Program
A 400-word (maximum) summary of the session content, including: purpose/objective, technical content, target audience and significance for the selected thematic area and/or field-building dimension; learning objectives
A 400-word (maximum) summary of the planned session process, including: short description of any presentations or inputs, the moderation or management approach of the session, the role of contributors – both those named in the abstract and any others with planned roles, and a rough breakdown as to how the 90 minutes will be used.

Evaluation Criteria:

In line with the Core Symposium Principles, the Scientific Committee will be asked to assess organized sessions on the basis of:

Technical merit
Relevance to the Symposium theme
Significance for the sub-theme area and/or field-building dimension
Engagement of policymakers, managers and civil society groups (i.e. chair and those with a planned role)
Potential for active involvement by the audience.

Individual Sessions

Individual abstracts may be submitted as a paper, poster or multimedia presentation:

A paper is a 10-minute oral presentation with an additional 5 minutes allowed for questions.
A poster is a physical display that is no more than 120 cm by 80 cm in size or an e-poster that will be displayed virtually.
A multimedia presentation could be a short film, documentary, animated film or photo-essay and should be no longer than 15 minutes in total presentation time.

Note: If an abstract is submitted as a paper, it may be accepted as a poster – please do not submit for both a paper and a poster for the same abstract.

Those submitting individual abstracts will be required to submit the following information:

Title (maximum 25 words)
Speaker contact details
Sub-theme and field-building dimension
For multimedia submission: link to the video/photos if available
List of co-authors for listing in the abstract book, if applicable
An abstract of 400 words or less

Abstract format

For empirical research presentations a structured abstract should be prepared, covering background, methods, results and discussion / conclusions.
For conceptual research, or work under other field-building dimensions, abstracts should cover Purpose, focus/content, significance for the sub-theme area/field-building dimension of relevance and target audience.
Individual abstracts may be accepted either for oral, multimedia or poster presentation.

Evaluation criteria

In line with the Core Symposium Principles (Note: this will be updated to reflect HSR2022 branding), the Scientific Committee will be asked to assess individual abstracts on the basis of:

Technical merit
Relevance to the Symposium theme
Significance to the sub-theme area and field-building dimension

Guidelines on number of presentations per person

In order to foster diversity, each person will be permitted to present a maximum of:

Once in an organized session (either as chair/moderator or named contributor);
Once in individual abstract-based sessions;

Multiple submissions that include the same-named contributor will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee, but the Program Working Group will be responsible for finalizing abstract selection so as to maximize diversity and ensure balance across the program.

Symposium languages

Abstracts in English, Spanish and French will be accepted. Posters may be produced in English, French or Spanish.

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