1.1 Introduction

The Ministry of Health carries on, by means of the Department of Science and Technology - Decit, with its purpose of meeting the health needs of the population, as expressed in the National Health Policy. Concerning those needs, the research may contribute for achieving integrality, equity and solvability of the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS).

The many steps of the process of defining the National Agenda of Priority Research in Health (Agenda Nacional de Prioridades de Pesquisa em Saúde – ANPPS) and laying out the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation in Health (Política Nacional de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação em Saúde – PNCTIS), having been intensified in the 2003-2004 period, resulted in symbolic milestones for the developed fomentation actions. Those two tools, which were conceived and implemented based on a broad and systematized debate among managers, researchers, users, health workers and representatives of the society, have allowed the publishing of 22 calls for bid concerning health research in various knowledge areas and funding for 1,210 studies between 2004 and 2005, thus placing the Ministry of Health among the undertakers of national efforts for health research.

The logic for laying out calls for bid follows the subjects pointed out in the PNCTIS. This goes way beyond listing diseases and conditions and considers, in special, the needs for policy improvement studies, existent knowledge gaps, and availability of financial resources.

In order to improve the process of board definition and to broaden the levels of debate among managers, users and researchers, Decit has sought tools in national and international experiments for improving the priority-setting process in health research, in a partnership with the technical areas in the Ministry of Health and in the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa – CNPq).

With that purpose, the Workshop of Research Priorities in Health was held, bringing together representatives from all those segments. It took place in Brasília, at the Academia de Tênis on March 08-09, 2006.

In order to collaborate for improving the methodology, Professor Andrés de Francisco was invited, who is a representative of the Global Forum For Health Research. This foundation has remarkable experience in using the Combined Approach Matrix (CAM) for setting research priorities in health, specially the five-step process of the WHO ad hoc committee for prioritization.

The workshop discussed research priorities in the areas of Health Communication and Information; Work Management; Education Management; Health Technology Assessment; Diagnostic Kits; Clinical Genetics; Health and Environment; Health of the Afro-Brazilian Population; Health of People with Disabilities; Populational Aging and Health of the Elderly Person; Health of the Male Population; Social Determinants and Medications.

The composition and topics of round tables aimed to hold debates for subsidizing group works, with the participation of: directors, managers, representatives from the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conselho Nacional de Secretários da Saúde – CONASS) and from the National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries (Conselho Nacional de Secretários Municipais da Saúde – CONASEMS), researchers and an international guest, who has experience in the application of the selected methodology.

It is worth remarking that the areas of Health and Environment; Populational Aging and Health of the Elderly Person; Social Determinants; and Diagnostic Kits have participated only in the final Plenary Session of the event, with the objective of presenting the Research Priorities already defined in previous discussions.

In order to discuss the subject Neglected Diseases, which is also target of public attention, the workshop Research Priority and Innovation for Neglected Diseases was held in Rio de Janeiro, on April 5-7, 2006. The initiative counted on the valuable technical cooperation from the Center for Technological Development in Health (Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Saúde – CDTS), of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – FIOCRUZ), under the coordination of Professor Carlos Morel and with the partnership with CNPq. For that first discussion, they approached Malaria, Chagas disease, Leishmaniasis, Dengue Fever, Tuberculosis and Hansen’s disease.

The process will be described and recorded in full, since it constitutes an important learning for all agents involved, thus providing an information source for publicizing and qualitative assessment of the fomentation initiatives coordinated by the Ministry of Health by means of Decit.