Evidence-Informed Policy Network

Human Resources for Health Evidence for Policy brief: “Empowering Frontline workers in Evidence Informed Policymaking Process

This workshop was hosted by WHO/AFRO in collaboration with University of Kwazulu Natal, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery development, and EVIPNet in Durban, South Africa from 14-17 November 2011. Technical support was provided by “Evidence Informed Policy Network or EVIPNet" from WHO/Geneva and HRH Programme/AFRO. A total of 16 nurse and midwifery researchers and academicians and representative from policy making in the Ministry of health from five (5) countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso Malawi, South Africa and Senegal) participated in the 4 day workshop. The main goals were to develop capacity of participants to write and evaluate research evidence for policy briefs through the analysis of national country context; to develop evidence based policy brief and policy options/strategies to contribute to resolving Human Resources Crisis for Health in Sub-Saharan Africa and specifically on issues retention and educational qualification/specialization which are affecting nurses and midwives and organize national policy dialogue, with key stakeholders on policy options in the evidence based briefs for policy.

• Durban Workshop report
  pdf, 2.24Mb

3rd SURE Annual Meeting with EVIPNet Africa on strengthening health systems with evidence-informed policies

The EVIPNet Africa meeting was held this year in Maputo, Mozambique, organized and hosted by the Ministry of Health, the Instituto Nacional de Saúde (National Institute of Health) and the Faculty of Medicine of the University Eduardo Mondlane. The event takes place annually with the SURE management meeting and workshops. A set of new evidence briefs for policy were developed by country teams about Governance, Maternal Mortality, Mental Health and Skilled Attendance at Delivery.
Next year the 4th SURE meeting will take the format of the Evidence-Informed Health Policymaking in Low and Middle-Income Countries: An International Forum will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 27-30 August 2012, with all the family of EVIPNet teams to promote best practices, discuss new methodologies and tools, present case-studies, and identify cutting-edge issues in guideline development and evidence-based policy-making.

• SURE Meeting Report
  pdf, 27kb

SURE/EVIPNet Uganda : Rapid Response Mechanism on food fortification

The Uganda SURE/EVIPNet team has piloted a rapid response mechanism for the network. The team has 24 to 48 hours to respond to a demand of a policy-maker about a topic/problem. With priority issues, a rapid response brief is followed by a national policy dialogue. As a result of their great work, they are currently training EVIPNet teams in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Zambia and strengthen South-South approach of cooperation and collaboration. The policy dialogue was focus on transition and sustainability of nutrition programs and included evidence from the rapid response reports on food fortification.

• Is mandatory food fortification an efficient strategy for the alleviation of micronutrient deficiency?
  pdf, 679kb
• How can the sustainability of a public health (food fortification) program be ensured?
  pdf, 276kb
• National Policy Dialogue on the Transition and Sustainability of Public Health Nutrition Programs
  pdf, 516kb

Morocco - Maternal Mortality Reduction high national prority to reach MDG 5 - UNFPA Policy brief

Although not using EVIPNet methodologies yet, this policy brief is helpful in showing how Morocco has implemented efficient strategies of intervention to accelerate the reduction of maternal mortality. The exercise of the evidence informed policy brief writing with multisectoral health players such as UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and the ministry of health was an opportunity to review and highlight the strategies of intervention which have an immediate impact on maternal mortality reduction. The next step for Morocco will be to establish the mechanisms for sustainable and long term effective intervention effects.

• Morocco Policy brief on Maternal Mortality Reduction English version
  pdf, 1.17Mb
• Morocco Policy brief on Maternal Mortality Reduction French version
  pdf, 1.50Mb

Vision
EVIPNet partners envision a world in which policy makers in low- and middle-income countries use the best scientific evidence, contextualized to the reality of their nation, to inform policy making and policy implementation.


Mission
EVIPNet’s mission is to promote sustainable partnerships at the global, national and regional level between policymakers, researchers and civil society to improve evidence-informed policies about public health issues to strengthen health systems and services in low- and middle-income countries, to help improve health outcomes.

EVIPNet Portal

The EVIPNet Portal promotes interactive collaboration and serves as a learning environment to disseminate best practices of EVIPNet, REACH (Regional East African Community Health Policy Initiative) and other similar initiatives .

• Access to EVIPNet Portal
• Access to EVIPNet Blog

Supporting the Use of Research Evidence (SURE)

SURE for policy in African health systems is a collaborative project that builds on and supports the Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) in Africa and the REACH (Regional East African Community Health Policy Initiative). The project involves teams of researchers and policymakers in 11 African countries and is supported by research teams in four European countries and Canada. SURE is funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme.

• Access to SURE Website

HIFA-EVIPNet-Fr

Global email discussion forum to support Evidence-Informed Policy Making For All in all French-speaking countries in Africa. It will be launched on 13th October at the 12th AHILA Congress, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. We invite you to work with us to learn more about a world where policymakers have access to the information and knowledge they need to provide effective policy making and health services

• Registration to HIFA-EVIPNet-Fr
• The Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA)
• Healthcare Information for All by 2015 - A global campaign and knowledge network - Annual Review 2010
• BMJ Editorial calls on major funding agencies to commit to 'Healthcare Information For All by 2015'

EVIPNet Brochure

The role of EVIPNet and selected activities at regional and country level

• English version
• French version
• Spanish version

What is EVIPNet ?

• Video presentation

EVIPNet, Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) and SIVAC

EVIPNet, the WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) and the Supporting National Independent Immunization and Vaccine Advisory Committees (SIVAC) Initiative are collectively working in support of capacity-building for evidence-based policy-making on vaccines and immunization at country level. Concretely, they support National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs), which provide guidance to national policy-makers and programme managers on immunization-related policy and programme decisions.

• WHO immunization policy resources: Position papers on vaccines
• National advisory committees on immunization