Nepal Health Research Council acts as an autonomous apex body of Nepal government in order to maintain the health facilities of the general public by doing study and research works on the problems appearing in the health sector. Thus its functions are to regulate, facilitate and perform health related research and trainings in the country. The scientific evidences generated through research will be the asset and guidance to the government to promote and provide the reasonable health to the public. The means to promote research would be capacity building of potential researchers and health workers by institutionalizing structured training programs; mobilizing available human resource and recognized faculty for the purpose of research and training; decentralizing research facilitation to cover different geographical areas; encouragement by grants and prizes; and collaborating with research institutes, academia and appropriate agencies.

My expectation is active participation and collaboration from all health-related sectors, and cooperation and guidance from Nepal government whenever required. We work together for the institutional and public interest; and the scientific evidences and trained researchers will be the deliverables. To prepare ourselves with knowledge, skill, technology and usable infrastructure for the research will be the pre-requisites for the successful discharge of assigned role and responsibility.

 I look forward to work together for the common interest.

Chairperson

Prof Dr Gehanath Baral

Email: gehanath.baral@nhrc.gov.np

Constitution of Nepal has given high priority to health research for improvement of health status of Nepalese people through evidence informed interventions and quality health care services. Established by an Act of Parliament on 12 April 1991, Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC) is an apex body of Government of Nepal responsible for coordinating and promoting high quality health research in the country with its four major mandates: Research Regulation, Evidence Generation, Capacity Building and Promoting use of evidence in policy and planning. The Ethical Review Board (ERB) of NHRC has received international accreditation from The Forum for Ethical Review Committees in the Asian and Western Pacific Region (FERCAP) in November 2019 and over 60 Institutional Review Committees (IRCs) have been established by NHRC in different academic and research institutions across the countries. One of our major responsibilities would be to enhance health research governance to sustain international recognition as well as recognize research conducted in Nepal as of international standards which is also envisioned by National Health Policy 2019 of Nepal. The number of peer reviewed articles published from Nepal has drastically increased over the last three decades and evidence-informed clinical practice as well as policy making process have received greater importance over the years. In the future, my focus will be more on collaborative basic science research with academic institutions and implementation research with government institutions and development partners which can contribute for evidence informed policy planning and practice. Furthermore, as per the provisions of National Health Policy 2019 and National Health Research Strategy 2020, we will expand structure of NHRC in the federal context by establishing research centers for excellence gradually in all provinces of Nepal. Finally, we welcome national and international collaboration, networking and partnership for fostering research culture in our country.