Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice

A world where every policymaker and every health professional has access to the evidence they need to accelerate progress towards universal access to quality health care and services

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Overview

Improvements in health and health systems worldwide, and especially in low- and middle-income countries, are largely dependent on the translation of cumulative research evidence into policy and practice. HIFA is uniquely positioned to convene the full range of relevant stakeholders worldwide to explore how this evidence can be better translated, looking at drivers and barriers at all levels: international, national and facility level worldwide.

The HIFA Project on Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice promotes communication, understanding and advocacy on the HIFA forums around the information, knowledge management and knowledge translation challenges for countries to:
(a) develop national policy and practice guidelines
(b) use these guidelines to support improvements in policy and practice at national, district and local levels and at the front line of health care.
The remit includes country-level policymaking, implementation research and systematic reviews.

From 2016-18 this project has been supported by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), WHO and The Lancet to support a series of online discussions on the uptake of evidence into policy and practice, with a particular focus on country-level policymaking, systematic reviews and implementation research. These discussions have now been successfully completed and the findings were presented at international conferences.

Sponsorship opportunity: The HIFA Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice working group is seeking additional sponsorship to continue our work in 2019-20. Please contact us for details.

Activities

In 2016 and 2017, Phase 1 of the project supported three HIFA thematic discussions, with sponsorship from WHO, TDR, and The Lancet:

1. Evidence-informed country-level policymaking 
2. Implementation research
3. Systematic reviews

Funding is currently being sought for Phase 2 (2019-20). 
 

 

Publications
2018

Short-edit version of a discussion initiated by HIFA member Charles Dhewa, Zimbabwe, October 2018.

2018

Long-edit version of a discussion initiated by HIFA member Charles Dhewa, Zimbabwe, October 2018.

2018

Full version of a discussion initiated by HIFA member Charles Dhewa, Zimbabwe, October 2018.

2017

From 15 May to 23 June 2017 the HIFA Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice working group supported a HIFA thematic discussion on Systematic Reviews, around five questions. 89 messages, from 36 contributors, were received responding to the questions. This narrative review summarizes the opinions expressed by those contributors.  With thanks to HIFA working group members Sylvia de Haan and Rob Terry.

2017

HIFA Discussion on Systematic Reviews
Compilation IN FULL: 89 messages (up to 21 June 2017)

2017

HIFA Discussion on Systematic Reviews
EDITED version, 7 July 2017

2017

Systematic reviews are widely recognised as essential for evidence-informed policy and practice. It has been argued that they are particularly important in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where it is vital for policymakers and practitioners to focus resources on interventions that will have a positive impact on health. However, there are many potential barriers to the use of systematic reviews in LMICs, which include understanding, awareness and perceptions of policymakers and practitioners; geographical biases of health research and systematic reviews; and the ability to access, interpret systematic reviews in international and national clinical and policy guidelines. 

The Cochrane Collaboration is the leading producer of systematic reviews. We set out to see how many times Cochrane was mentioned in HIFA messages and how it was discussed...

  • Specific Cochrane reviews 
  • Improving knowledge and practice of practitioners
  • Improving knowledge and practice of policymakers
  • Increasing relevance of Cochrane reviews to LMICs
  • Translation of Cochrane reviews
  • Increasing visibility, awareness and understanding of Cochrane reviews

'One major theme throughout the emails was the focus on how low and middle income countries (LMICs) should be more included in Cochrane and in health research more generally, as well as how this can be done.'

Dr Soumyadeep Bhaumik gave this Powerpoint presentation at the Cochrane Colloquium in Seoul, South Korea (23-27 October 2016), on behalf of the Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice working group. The presentation highlights some of the key points emerging from the HIFA thematic discussion on Evidence-Informed Country-Level Health Policymaking.

With support from WHO, TDR and The Lancet, HIFA held a thematic discussion on Evidence-informed country-level policy-making, from 22 February to 31 March 2016. There were 136 contributions from 36 participants in 16 countries (Brazil, Cameroon, Croatia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, UK, USA, and Zambia). Below are a few selected extracts from the discussions. A longer version is available on request. The participants also highlighted 35 papers relevant to the subject, available separately.

36 participants in 16 countries (Brazil, Cameroon, Croatia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, UK, USA, and Zambia)

This document provides a record of bibliographic references cited by HIFA members during the HIFA discussion on Evidence-Informed Country-Level Policymaking

2017

Implementation Research - Discussion in Full

2017

Implementation Research - Citations

Members
The members of the Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice working group lead the wider HIFA community to promote the translation of evidence into policy and practice.
Name Country
Abi Sriharan Canada
Alexa McArthur Australia
Denny John India
Ian Roberts Switzerland
Isabelle Wachsmuth-Huguet Switzerland
Jamie Guth Switzerland
Karishma Krishna Kurup India
Neil Pakenham-Walsh United Kingdom
Robert Terry Switzerland
Soumyadeep Bhaumik India
Stuti Chakraborty India
Sylvia De Haan Netherlands
Tamara Lotfi Lebanon
Tamzin Furtado United Kingdom
Zohra Lassi Australia
Further information

We are grateful to the World Health Organization, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and The Lancet  for their support of this project.

For further information, please contact the Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice coordinator, Neil Pakenham-Walsh: neil@hifa.org