The Rural Family Medicine Cafe (RFMC) is a social media project that consists of panel discussions with rural health professionals and those interested in rural medicine. For each cafe, a topical issue in rural medicine is chosen for discussion and participants can join the discussion live or interact on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter using #ruralcafe. The discussions are informal and each participant has equal power of voice. The RFMC has grown into a virtual community and an informal learning environment with international participation. The RFMC was created in response to the current global shortage of rural family doctors. This shortage is thought to be due to medical students having little exposure to rural medicine and the poor support and engagement of rural medical professionals. The RFMC aims to overcome geographical and professional isolation by using social media platforms to connect people and share ideas. This session seeks to provide a forum for discussion while demonstrating how participants can create RFMCs locally. This will be done through an interactive forum where participants will take part in a cafe designed for the conference discussing rural proofing strategies for policies in rural health. Healthcare policies are often made with an urban point of view and are not as easily applied to rural settings. During the session, a moderator will guide the discussion and allow participants to share their experiences of rural proofing including what works and what doesn’t. By the end of the session participants will understand how a RFMC works, be aware of rural proofing strategies, and be provided with the opportunity to share their ideas and experiences around healthcare policy in rural health. Rural cafes are a great way for participants to network, expand their knowledge, and improve overall morale.

The Rural Family Medicine Cafe will provide an informal learning environment where rural healthcare professionals in training and more experienced professionals can share their knowledge and experience. Participants will gain an insight into rural practice in different parts of the world, have the opportunity to share their experiences, and hopefully leave inspired and connected with others facing the same challenges.

Aim:
The aim of the workshop is to stimulate meaningful discussion on the global research gap and its challenges and barriers with potential solutions. This will include the disparities in research infrastructure and investment that may occur in LMICs. We hope that a final statement will come following the workshops.

Content:
Locally led global health research is critical to address emerging global health challenges in communities. Information related to health and research is vital when planning, implementing and managing healthcare interventions. It has been noted that healthcare research is being carried out in a limited way within the world's poorest countries. The disease burden shared from LMICs surpasses 90% while only 10% of the global research is conducted and funded. Consequently, health research capacity development (HRCD) has been proposed in LMICs with funding on par, as global health investment.
The following topics will be discussed at the workshop.
• What is meant by the research gap and what are the key values, principles and problems?
• Identify factors to overcome the challenges and narrow the research gaps?
• How unfairness and inequity in research collaboration impacts on global trends?
• Is there a role for global North and South researchers in addressing this gap?
• What are some innovative solutions to overcome these barriers?

Outcome:
To establish the challenges to be able to find out to overcoming the research gap and networking among the participants to plan a way forward. This call for action to narrow the 10/90 gap in research includes, building up the capacity of health research in LMICs, collaborative work with Global North and South, establishing a mentorship programme to support research networks, increase funding and grants, encourage public-private partnerships, develop a mechanism to monitor the progress in health research, working with policy makers nationally and internationally.

1.Collaborative research work with Global North and South.
2. Establishing a mentorship programme to support research networks.
3. Building up the capacity of health research in LMICs.