Research within international non-governmental organisation programmes in low and middle-income countries: challenges amid opportunities.

### Summary box Over the past decades, enormous efforts have gone into improving access to quality health services in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) through the activities of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs).1 However, for most of these INGO-implemented interventions, responding to health research needs of these populations is not a priority, with a few exceptions.2 In instances where research is of interest, the capacities to generate valid evidence are limited.3 This is compounded by the limited number of academic research institutions with the capacity to conduct the required research in many LMICs despite the urgent need for locally led research efforts.3 4 Although there has been an expansion in INGO-led implementation science programmes recently in many LMICs, they are mainly motivated by the need to bridging the ‘know-do-gaps’, rather than providing answers to emerging health research questions based on implementation research principles.5 Without rigorous research methods, concepts and methods of current implementation science programmes in both high-income countries (HIC) and LMICs cannot …