Thirdly, as the support that policymaking actors find in each other, thus forming a chain or a system, or on the contrary, the disjunctions and contradictions which isolate them from one another.
Finally, as the strategies which policymaking actors use, whose general design or institutional crystallization is embodied in the state apparatus, in the formulation of the law, in the various social hegemonies.
An analytical framework which combines the policymaking context, actors, process, content, power (Walt 1994) and the role of evidence in policymaking (Court and Young 2006) was developed.
I first identified two focal actors based on the document review and then used the name generator to identify additional respondents, asking the question: 'With whom did you interact during policymaking for iCCM?' Actors were prompted to provide as many names as possible and these names were sought for interviews.
This shows that policymakers, researchers and other actors involved in policymaking in the health sector in Uganda believe that particular attributes of the research and the dissemination process influence the uptake of research and knowledge into decisions on health policies, but that this requires sound institutional capacities.
The institutions usually base their choices on rationality, organisational structures, or historical background, which opens a possibility for individual actors to influence policymaking [ 25].
This mixed methods policy study collected data from in-depth qualitative interviews and social network surveys of actors involved in iCCM policymaking [known locally as C-integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI)]; data were analysed based on the framework categories.
The sector-wide approach created a new avenue for policymaking platforms between the MOH, international donors, and other actors broadening the scope and range of policy actors.
As policymaking processes are relevant across other LMICs, and national policy actors are likely to confront similar scenarios, we hope this paper contributes to learning beyond Ghana in which this work was conducted to other LMIC in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
The larviciding decision process, as described by the respondents was shorter, appears to have been started by a decision at the highest levels of government and circumvented a number of policy processes and actors that are reflected in the normal processes of vector control policymaking.
This finding is similar to what Sutcliffe and Court reported [ 37], namely that actors' ideologies, principles and political orientation ultimately affect how and what types of evidence get used for policymaking.
