Integrating Translational Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

Abstract

Translational health—the process of translating findings from basic science into clinical testing and on into population effect—is a powerful vehicle for building health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Integration, however, is uneven because of structural underinvestment, workforce shortages, supply-chain vulnerabilities, regulatory obstacles, and disparities in data and research environments. Based on health system and implementation science models (e.g., CFIR, RE-AIM), the article combines evidence and learning from LMIC experience across communicable and non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, and emergency responses (Ebola, COVID-19). We examine barriers and facilitators in seven areas: governance and regulation; financing and incentives; research infrastructure and ethics; service delivery and quality; data and digital health; supply chains and local manufacturing; and community engagement and equity. We suggest an action-oriented, staged LMIC roadmap—"Discover–Adapt–Deliver–Scale–Sustain (DADSS)"—with tangible strategies such as adaptive trials within routine care, south-south consortia, pooled procurement and local manufacture, fair IP and data governance, and community-based implementation. We assert that translational health, when localized, equity-focused, and anchored in dynamic health systems, can speed progress toward universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.