[Governance and health: contributions to innovation in health systems]

The need to strengthen the field of health policy and systems research has been widely recognized among public health research organizations. This is especially so in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean. Moreover, there is also an increasing interest in the development of new research models with greater capacity to influence policy agendas and health reforms. This publication argues that in order to bridge research to policy, the design of technical solutions alone is largely not sufficient; it is essential to achieve a better understanding of the planning and implementation of health policies. Sound research can play a relevant role, but it has to include new analytical categories and generate appropriate interfaces between researchers and decision makers. This article introduces the Journal's special edition devoted to governance and health policies in the Americas.Its purpose is to present the advances achieved by Latin American researchers,in collaboration with Canadian scientists, in the conceptual and methodological development of governance in health, and to showcase different field projects in the region. The authors present complementary views, both analytical and normative,confirming the advantages and opportunities of developing a governance dimension in health systems research projects. This enables a better understanding of the policy process and consequently increases the potential to influence public policies.