Barriers and facilitators to the institutionalization and sustainability of knowledge translation platforms in the eastern Mediterranean: a scoping review

Knowledge translation platforms (KTP) are partnerships comprising policy-makers, national researchers, and civil society, serving as organizational knowledge brokers to foster the use and uptake of evidence in evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) processes. Recent evidence suggested that KTP institutionalization requires leadership, commitment, political engagement, shared ownership, monitoring and evaluation, participatory approaches and multi-institutional collaboration within a policy-stable context. However, limited evidence from the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR) has confirmed, disconfirmed or refuted these theoretical assumptions. In this review, we set out to refine, confirm or disconfirm these theoretical assumptions and explore the barriers and facilitators to institutionalizing and sustaining (KTPs) in the EMR.

We followed the scoping review methodological guidance. We searched three databases (Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed) for articles published in French, English or Arabic addressing knowledge translation platforms (KTP) in healthcare in countries from the Eastern Mediterranean region published between 2010 and 2022.

A total of 55 studies were included out of 2585. Most studies reported KTP initiatives from Pakistan (n = 11), Iran (n = 9), Jordan (n = 8), Lebanon (n = 9) and Egypt (n = 16), whilst North African countries were underrepresented. Review findings suggest that stakeholder, community engagement and political commitment are key underlying social mechanisms for translating evidence into action. Our review highlights contextual barriers such as rigid hierarchical structures, inadequate protected research time, delayed financial disbursements and cultural resistance to evidence use.

Researchers might explore the political and structural barriers, such as overarching political forces, and the sensitivity of research findings that impede the uptake of evidence into policy in the region. Our findings underscore the need for multilayered interventions to address these challenges and support the need for systemic capacity-building interventions to promote the institutionalization of KTPs in the Eastern Mediterranean region.