Application of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology to prioritise research to enable the implementation of Ending Cholera: A global roadmap to 2030

Background:
The “Ending Cholera: A Global Roadmap to 2030” (Roadmap) was launched in October 2017. Following its launch, it became clear that additional evidence is needed to assist countries in controlling cholera and that a prioritised list of research questions is required to focus the limited resources to address the issues most relevant to the implementation of the Roadmap.

Methods:
A comprehensive list of research questions was developed based on inputs from the Working Groups of the Global Taskforce for Cholera Control and other experts. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was adapted to identify the relevant assessment criteria and assign weights to each criterion. The assessment criteria were applied to each research question by cholera experts to derive a score based on which they were prioritised.

Findings:
The consultation process involved 177 experts and stakeholders representing different constituencies and geographies with research priority scores ranging from 88.8 to 65.7% and resulted in the prioritisation of the top 20 research questions across all Roadmap pillars, the top five research questions for each Roadmap pillar, and three discovery research questions. This resulted in 32 non-duplicative research questions that considers both immediate and long-term Roadmap goals.

Interpretation:
The transparent, inclusive, and rigorous process to develop a Research Agenda is aimed to secure broad buy-in and serve as a guide for funding agencies and researchers to focus their efforts to fill the evidence gaps plaguing cholera-endemic countries.