EVIPNet newsletter global 32 - Aug 2012

EVIPNetNews

August 2012 Issue 32 1. Highlights 2. Review Articles 3. Editorial articles 4. Systematic reviews 5. Relevant publications 6. Events 7. Relevant tools & links

News from EVIPNet Members or Activities July 2012 - Council of Ministers of Health from Central America and Dominican Republic (COMISCA) and VI Biennial meeting of NeTropica

Next EVIPNet Events Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 27 – 30 August 2012. Evidence-Informed Health Policymaking in Low and Middle-Income Countries: An International Forum

Experiences, methods and tools for research translation to policy

1 - HIGHLIGHTS New evidence briefs for policy by EVIPNet Country teams New evidence briefs for policy - EVIPNet Burkina Faso New evidence briefs for policy on strategies for sustainable universal health coverage for Burkina Faso and strategies to improve budget allocations for health    

Strategies for sustainable universal health coverage in Burkina Faso - Full report in French Strategies for sustainable universal health coverage in Burkina Faso - Policy dialogue report in French Stratégies d’amélioration des allocations budgétaires pour la santé au Burkina Faso - Full report in French Stratégies d’amélioration des allocations budgétaires pour la santé au Burkina Faso - Policy dialogue report in French

Piripiri Evidence Centre - Municipal health services Based on the experience of EVIPNet, the Municipal Health Secretary created the Piripiri Evidence Centre (municipal EVIPNet team) linked to EVIPNet Brazil with the mission of promoting: universal access to information sources through digital inclusion in health; the use of health research evidence locally to improve the decision-making process; and the exchange among managers, health professionals and other stakeholders. The Piripiri Evidence Centre produced two new evidence briefs for policy.  

HIFA-EVIPNet-French brings together stakeholders to explore the information needs of policymakers and how these needs can be addressed more effectively, thereby improving the policymaking process and its impact on public health. HIFAEVIPNet-French will focus on French-speaking African countries.

Join HIFA-EVIPNet-Fr To join, please email your name, job title, organisation, country of residence, and brief description of professional interests to:

The Prevention and Control of Dengue Fever in Urban Areas Physical activity and prevention/control of arterial hypertension in primary healthcare

2 – REVIEW ARTICLES

From efficacy to equity: Literature review of decision criteria for resource allocation and healthcare decision making Guindo, A, L., Wagner, M., Baltussen, R., Rindress, D., van Til. J., Kind,P., Goetghebeur, M, M., (2012). From efficacy to equity: Literature review of decision criteria for resource allocation and healthcare decision making, Cost Effectiveness

hifa-evipnet-fradmin@dgroups.org

and Resource Allocation, 10(9), 27.

Resource allocation is a challenging issue faced by health policy decision makers requiring careful consideration of many factors. Objectives of this study were to identify decision criteria and their frequency reported in the literature on healthcare decision making. This study highlights the importance of considering both normative and feasibility criteria for fair allocation of resources and optimized decision making for coverage and use of healthcare interventions. This analysis provides a foundation to develop a questionnaire for an international survey of decision makers on criteria and their relative importance. The ultimate objective is to develop sound multicriteria approaches to enlighten healthcare decision making and priority-setting.

Implementation research evidence uptake and use for policy-making Panisset, U., Koehlmoos, P,T., Alkhatib, H, A., Pantoja, T., Singh, P., KengeyaKayondo, J., McCutcheon, B., (2012). Implementation research evidence uptake and use for policy-making. Health Research Policy and Systems, 10(20),13.

A major obstacle to the progress of the Millennium Development Goals has been the inability of health systems in many low- and middle-income countries to effectively implement evidence-informed interventions. This article discusses the relationships between implementation research and knowledge translation and identifies the role of implementation research in the design and execution of evidence-informed policy.

After a discussion of the benefits and synergies needed to translate implementation research into action, the article discusses how implementation research can be used along the entire continuum of the use of evidence to inform policy. It provides specific examples of the use of implementation research in national level programmes by looking at the scale up of zinc for the treatment of childhood diarrhoea in Bangladesh and the scaling up of malaria treatment in Burkina Faso. A number of tested strategies to support the transfer of implementation research results into policy-making are provided to help meet the standards that are increasingly expected from evidence-informed policy-making practices.

Developed-developing country partnerships: Benefits to developed countries?

Syed, B, S., Dadwal, V., Rutter, P., Storr, J., Hightower, D, J., Gooden, R., Carlet, J., Nejad, B, S., Kelley, T, E., Donaldson, L., Pittet, D., (2012). Developed-developing country partnerships: Benefits to developed countries?. Globalization and Health, 8(17),23.

Developing countries can generate effective solutions for today's global health challenges. This paper reviews relevant literature to construct the case for international cooperation, and in particular, developed-developing country partnerships. Standard database and web-based searches were conducted for publications in English between 1990 and 2010. Ten key health areas where developed countries have the most to learn from the developing world were identified and include, rural health service delivery; skills substitution; decentralisation of management; creative problem-solving; education in communicable disease control; innovation in mobile phone use; low technology simulation training; local product manufacture; health financing; and social entrepreneurship. While there are no guarantees that innovations from developing

country experiences can effectively transfer to developed countries, combined developed-developing country learning processes can potentially generate effective solutions for global health systems. However, the global pool of knowledge in this area is virgin and further work needs to be undertaken to advance understanding of health innovation diffusion. Even more urgently, a standardized method for reporting partnership benefits is needed--this is perhaps the single most immediate need in planning for, and realizing, the full potential of international cooperation between developed and developing countries.

3 – EDITORIAL ARTICLES Special issue on global health Royston, G., (2012). Special issue on global health. Health Care Management Science.

15(1),4.

The papers in the special issue provide an encouraging indicator of interest and activity in analytical work on global health issues, not least in low and middle income countries facing the greatest health challenges. Further development will depend in part on improvement in areas such as those noted above, but will depend also on better communication—between those doing mostly field based pragmatic operational research and those involved in developing and deploying tools of management science that could add analytic value, between health policy makers and managers with problems and analysts and researchers with ways to help address them, and between lower and higher income countries who can both learn from each other about tackling global health research and analysis issues. Fora such as the WHO Evidence-Informed Policy network (www.evipnet.org) or the Healthcare Information for All 2015 network (www.hifa2015.org) can play a vital role in facilitating such communication. Network analysis is recognised as important in understanding global health, particularly because of the power of networks to transmit disease internationally. But networks can also spread knowledge about health and health care around the world, not least through research and policy networks. This special issue of Health Care Management Science aims to provide a modest example of that global spread of knowledge to improve health for all.

4 - SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS The McMaster Health Forum Health Systems Evidence provides links to graded systematic reviews that may be helpful for evidence-informed policy-making.

A framework for production of systematic review based briefings to support evidence-informed decision-making Chambers, D., Wilson, P., (2012). A framework for production of systematic review based briefings to support evidence-informed decision-making. Systematic Reviews.

1(32),4.

Although not a systematic review per se, this article develops a “framework for translating existing sources of synthesized and quality assessed evidence, primarily

systematic reviews, into actionable messages in the form of short accessible briefings. The service aims to address real-life problems in response to requests from decision-makers. Development of the framework was based on a scoping review of existing resources and our initial experience with two briefing topics, including models of service provision for young people with eating disorders. We also drew on previous experience in dissemination research and practice. Where appropriate, we made use of the SUPporting POlicy relevant Reviews and Trials (SUPPORT) tools for evidence-informed policymaking. The framework will enable researchers to present and contextualize evidence from systematic reviews and other sources of synthesized and quality-assessed evidence. The approach is designed to address the wide range of questions of interest to decision-makers, especially those commissioning services or managing service delivery and organization in primary or secondary care. Evaluation of the use and usefulness of the evidence briefings we produce is an integral part of the framework and will help to fill a gap in the literature.�

5 - RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS New evidence briefs for policy by partners UNFPA - Women’s Need for Family Planning in Arab Countries This policy brief examines women’s need for family planning in Arab countries, drawing from national surveys of married women conducted over the past 10 years by the Pan Arab Project for Family Health (PAPFAM) and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The brief also describes why countries should work to reduce unmet need by addressing both the demand for and supply of family planning services. Governments and nongovernmental organizations can help remove social and economic barriers to using family planning, expand coverage of family planning services, and improve the quality of information and services.

Tools for Implementing an Evidence-Based Approach in Public Health Practice Jacobs, J., Jones, H, Gabella, B., Spring, B., Brownson, C, (2012). Tools for Implementing an Evidence-Based Approach in Public Health Practice. CDC Preventing Chronic Disease, 9(1), 9.

Increasing disease rates, limited funding, and the ever-growing scientific basis for intervention demand the use of proven strategies to improve population health.

Public health practitioners must be ready to implement an evidence based approach in their work to meet health goals and sustain necessary resources. We researched easily accessible and time-efficient tools for implementing an evidence-based public health (EBPH) approach to improve population health. Several tools have been developed to meet EBPH needs, including free online resources in the following topic areas: training and planning tools, US health surveillance, policy tracking and surveillance, systematic reviews and evidence-based guidelines, economic evaluation, and gray literature. Key elements of EBPH are engaging the community in assessment and decision making; using data and information systems systematically; making decisions on the basis of the best available peer-reviewed evidence (both quantitative and qualitative); applying program planning frameworks (often based in

health-behavior theory); conducting sound evaluation; and disseminating what is learned.

6 – EVENTS August 2012 - Evidence-informed health policy-making in Low and Middle-Income Countries: an international forum Upcoming: Special highlight in EVIPNetNews about the international forum with the programme will be provided Tuesday 14 August 2012.

The International Forum is hosted by SURE - Supporting the Use of Research Evidence in African Health Systems, a research consortium funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme, together with the WHO EvidenceInformed Policy Network (EVIPNet) and the Regional East African Community Health (REACH) Policy Initiative. The aims are: 

To share experiences with (and resources for) evidence-informed health policymaking (EIHP) in low and middle-income countries.



To identify opportunities for improving country-level efforts to support EIHP in low and middle-income countries.



To provide an opportunity for networking among initiatives to support EIHP.

The Forum will predominantly use small group, interactive approaches rather than large plenary sessions and didactic presentations. There will be an opportunity for participants to organise both open and closed meetings on the days prior to the forum, including regional and global EVIPNet meetings, workshops, and other working and exploratory meetings.

7 - RELEVANT TOOLS & LINKS 10 best resources for. . . evidence-informed health policy-making Moat, A, K., Lavis, N, J., (2012). 10 best resources for. . . evidence-informed health policy-making.

The paper employs the elements of the framework (Climate, Production of research, Push efforts, Efforts to facilitate user pull, User-pull efforts, Exchange efforts) to identify and outline the 10 most useful and publicly available resources from a range of diverse sources, and in a variety of formats (a mix of reports and articles, plus a database and listserv), that can help facilitate a better understanding of supporting the use of research evidence in the health policy process. Although this is by no means intended to serve as an exhaustive or definitive inventory, taken as a whole, each of the included resources provides an excellent way with which to build a comprehensive understanding of the various facets of supporting evidence informed health policy.

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EVIPNet Team Evidence and Networks for Health unit (ENH), Knowledge Management Department (KMS), Innovation, Information, Evidence, and Health cluster (IER), World Health Organization. 20, Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, WHO Evidence Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet), Switzerland.

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