The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Health Act of 2009 mandates the Provincial Health Research and Ethics Committee to develop health research priorities for the province. During 2013, the KZN Department of Health embarked on a research prioritisation process for the province. Priority research questions were generated by an inclusive process, in which a variety of stakeholders in health research in the province were engaged. The aim of this study was to determine whether research conducted at public health facilities in KZN between 01 January 2014 and 31 March 2017 met the research priorities of the province developed through the provincial research prioritisation process of 2013. This was a mixed methods study. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to categorise priority research questions generated in the priority-setting process and the titles of research projects conducted after that process into themes. Quantitative analysis was used to determine the correlation between themes of the priority questions, and those of the research projects conducted after the prioritisation exercise. Statistical Package for Social Science version 25 was used to analyse the data. In 72% of thematic areas, there were disproportionately more priority questions than there were research projects conducted. There is thus a large disjuncture between the priorities developed through the provincial research prioritisation process of 2013 and the research projects conducted after that process in terms of major research areas. Ensuring that research conducted responds to priority questions raised is important because it ensures that research responds to locally important issues and to the concerns of local actors. Local health managers, communities and researchers should work together to ensure that the research conducted in their areas respond to the research priorities of those areas. Health Research Committees and local ethics committees can play important roles in facilitating the responsiveness to research priorities.

中文翻译：

---

将夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的健康研究放在优先位置：进行的研究是否满足研究需求？

2009年的《夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省（KZN）健康法案》要求省级健康研究与道德委员会负责制定该省的健康研究重点。在2013年期间，KZN卫生局开始了对该省的研究优先级过程。优先研究问题是由一个包容性过程产生的，该省的健康研究中有许多利益相关者参与其中。这项研究的目的是确定2014年1月1日至2017年3月31日在KZN的公共卫生机构进行的研究是否满足通过2013年省级研究优先排序过程制定的省级研究重点。这是一项混合方法研究。定性主题分析用于将在优先级确定过程中产生的优先级研究问题和在此过程之后进行的研究项目的标题分类为主题。定量分析被用来确定优先问题的主题与优先项目之后进行的研究项目之间的相关性。社会科学统计软件包第25版用于分析数据。在72％的主题领域中，与进行的研究项目相比，存在更多的优先权问题。因此，通过2013年省级研究优先级过程制定的优先级与此后在主要研究领域进行的研究项目之间存在很大的分歧。确保进行的研究能够对提出的优先问题做出回应，这一点很重要，因为它可以确保研究对本地重要问题和本地参与者的关注做出回应。当地卫生经理，社区和研究人员应共同努力，以确保在他们所在地区进行的研究能够响应这些地区的研究重点。卫生研究委员会和地方道德委员会在促进对研究重点的响应方面可以发挥重要作用。