Communicating health research (119) Evidence Week in Parliament 2022

13 October, 2022

This initiative aims to bring researchers and policymakers together, with a focus on the UK. Extracts below and a comment from me.

Where constituents and MPs meet researchers to discuss the evidence for policies

https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/

'Evidence matters to people, and our elected representatives must be able to scrutinise the evidence behind important decisions and policies. By asking the right questions MPs can increase the quality of evidence used in policymaking, and make better decisions.

'Sense about Science has partnered with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to host Evidence Week at Westminster on 14-18 November 2022, bringing together MPs, researchers, and the public to discuss how the evidence used to make policy decisions is scrutinised.

'Evidence Week is an opportunity for people from all over the UK to ask for the evidence behind policy issues that are important to them. With the support of their constituency MP, we will try to get answers to as many questions as possible in our livestream expert panel discussion....'

--

'We’ll feature as many questions as possible in our launch event, so submit your question now for the chance to ask your question during the livestreamed opening public panel discussion at 5pm on Monday 14 November [ https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/event/opening-event/ ], or get an answer by asking your MP to meet you for a policy briefing [ https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/policy-briefings/ ] from world-leading researchers in Westminster on Tuesday 15 or Wednesday 16 November.'

COMMENT (NPW): On 25 June 2015 the BMA [British Medical Association] Representatives approved unanimously: “That this meeting applauds efforts to bring essential healthcare information to citizens in low resource settings, welcomes the BMA’s ongoing support for the Healthcare Information for All campaign, and calls upon the UK government to prioritise support for initiatives that improve the availability and use of health

information.” On behalf of HIFA I shall ask again: "What, if anything, has the UK Government done to to prioritise support for initiatives that improve the availability and use of health information."

Best wishes, Neil

Let's build a future where every person has access to reliable healthcare information and is protected from misinformation - Join HIFA: www.hifa.org

HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of the HIFA global health movement (Healthcare Information For All - www.hifa.org ), a global community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting on six global forums in four languages in collaboration with WHO. HIFA brings stakeholders together to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK based non-profit in official relations with the World Health Organization.

Twitter: @hifa_org neil@hifa.org