Abstract
The desirable goals and directions of the Thai health system are to promote health prevention and
promotion for healthy Thai people. To achieve those goals, a number of innovations and new knowledge,
mainly derived from quality research, need to be generated in order to fill the current gap of knowledge.
Thus, a clear framework of potential research should be developed. This can help research funding agen-cies work transparently and effectively in granting research projects. This study presents a framework of
potential research that should be supported in order to achieve the desirable goals of healthy Thais. With
regard to each aspect of the goals, document and literature reviews were accumulated to collect background
information on the current situation and gap in knowledge. Interviews and meetings with seven
groups of experts were arranged to discuss and deliberate the potential research issues that should be
supported in the future. The results were then analyzed and categorized into three categories: (1) health
research issues by age groups - children, adolescent, adults, and elderly; (2) research issues in the health
systems - health service delivery, health workforce, health information, health technologies, health financing,
and health governance; and (3) research issues for promoting heath and health literacy. These issues
and sub-issues are also related to the policies of many granting agencies in Thailand. It is important to
raise the concerns of relevant agencies to determine the gap of knowledge that should be funded, then,
there would be enough research generated to move toward the desirable goals.
