Supporting the routine use of evidence during the health policy-making process: a pilot project of World Health Organization checklist

This project will pilot the application of the new WHO guidance on evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) institutionalisation. It will test this practical tool aimed to assist countries in diagnosing, navigating and planning their institutionalisation process, in two case study countries with diverse geographical locations and EIPM institutionalisation stages.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the limelight the need to strengthen and institutionalise evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) and to establish sustainable, multisectoral collaboration for health policy. Still, little guidance is available to support countries in this endeavour. Institutionalisation of evidence into policy-making is different from simply establishing a team or a service, it entails sustaining efforts so that evidence is being routinely used in policy development and implementation.

Aim

This project aims to pilot the application of a new WHO guidance which assists countries in institutionalising their EIPM processes. This collaboration will enable project holders to identify needs and barriers to institutionalisation in two trial countries with diverse geographical locations and EIPM institutionalisation stages and ensure the practicality of WHO checklist.

Impact

The results of the project will support the full deployment of WHO EIPM guidance in any Member State committed to put evidence at the centre of their health policies and hence contribute to bridge enduring evidence-policy gaps that are detrimental to health policies worldwide.

Key activities

1. Preparing a detailed protocol for the pilot work, and undertaking other preparatory work such as obtaining ethics approval, identifying and obtaining buy-in from the respective pilot countries.
2. Leading a situational analysis through a combination of desk research to assess the national context, health system and EIPM landscape of the case study country with the inputs from key local informants to understand the national EIPM context.
3. Facilitating participatory workshops that convene national stakeholders to discuss and validate the situation analyses, determine the institutionalisation stage of each key domain, and – depending on the institutionalisation stage of each case study country – identify a list of key actions to be taken against the WHO checklist.