I believe other members were going to listen and transcribe this webinar - but in case not, here are some notes.
Cochrane WHO evidence Webinar May 24th 2022 11.00 am BST
“Now is the time to “up your game” in using evidence to address health challenges – an informal 75th WHA event.”
The Cochrane and Commission on Evidence believe nations can go farther, faster together by:
· Strengthening domestic evidence infrastructure through rapid learning and improvement
· Enhancing and leveraging the global evidence architecture
· Engaging citizens and citizen-serving NGOs in putting evidence at the centre of everyday life.
*Soumya Swaminathan* *Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV )* described the methodologies, behaviour practices,
government practices that the science department of the WHO had navigated whilst transforming evidence to policy. For quite a long period of time, science has taken the central stage in the news. Common persons have heard
words they have not heard before but have also been subject to disinformation and misinformation.
The WHO now works with living guidelines which are updated more frequently than before and are available on a magic app in Open Access. The WHO now has a specific review committee with a bioethicist (only a few review
committees, yet, have bioethicists sitting on their panels.) and can review evidence much more quickly than before. EPInet, Cochrane and the Evidence Commission liaise closely.
National perspectives;
*Ethiopia – Dr Fetsum Adela*, *Minister of Planning and Development Commission** for Ethiopia*, found that the ordering of the resource supply for health was best directed by evidence. Ethiopia is in its second 5 years
of its 10 year health plan. During covid, Ethiopia did not go into a full lockdown, and maintained economic activities. By May 2022 Ethiopia had had 7500 deaths and had undertaken 25 million vaccinations. The country
utilised its National Health Research Council and Ethiopia’s ministry of health used local and global evidence and found that evidence needs to be available to all citizens for citizens’ use. Social media and radio were
important for communicating evidence and policy to citizens and the ministry of health posted daily. The Government evidence team had met every week using evidence to adapt to local circumstances and stories of success
had been helpful for communicating with the public. Some global recommendations had not been suitable for local Ethiopian resources and economies.
*Canada: Steven Hoffman*, *Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and director of the **WHO Collaborating Centre <http://apps.who.int/whocc/Detail.aspx?cc_ref=CAN-106&institution_full_na...
on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance* stated that there had been the fastest ever funding to generate research. He had been invited to develop UN covid response research by the deputy General of the UN. There
is a need to continue research development in between emergencies, not just at emergencies and mechanisms need to be improved to drive research and evidence into policy.
Single individuals do not make decisions alone. A national working expert science advice network might be 100 people or so. Policy ends up looking very different in practice to what each individual brings to the
conversation, after coordinating systematic reviews, running a covid network to respond to evidence and helping to avoid duplication of research. Across states in Canada there had been difficulty building expert panels and their composition had varied across Canada. It has been difficult to maintain and build during the pandemic.
*Maria Endang Sumiwi, health Specialist at UNICEF Indonesia*, explained how research and knowledge is becoming available in Indonesia through an Open Source website. Local research is necessary to derive policy from
global research. Indonesia has 17 thousand islands and 320 million people. Digitalization and digital health record keeping have improved the gathering of research evidence.
*John Lavis, a **Canadian physician who serves as the director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy*, supports policy holders to, use evidence, through Cochrane, Evipnet and the Evidence Commission, strengthening evidence support systems alongside national evidence, linking together implementation systems, research systems and innovation systems.
*Dr John Grove director of Quality Assurance for Norms & Standards (QNS) on July 1, t WHO. He is establishing and leading functions and assurance services for all WHO global norms and standards products, and oversees the
WHO Press, and WHO Global Library and Digital Information Services.*
The global architecture of standards and evidence is like a pyramid with a broad base in the North and a thin peak in the South and funding is required to shift the balance more to the South. Practicalities on the
ground in the South make the process of using evidence different. Countries can be passive in their approach and priorities networks are needed to tell WHO what evidence and policy should be looked for. Local
research needs to be progressed to make sense of global evidence. Sometimes local honest, trusted brokers can say things that the WHO cannot say, politically.
Finally, in reply to the question to the panel “what needs to be done better?” these replies were received:
“The WHO has been supportive and needs to increase its influence and cognitive roles and look at its own mistakes and learn. Evidence to policy exists in a complex, political environment and needs to be contextualised
to the environment in which it is applied. The UN systems could shine. Global evidence systems could be adapted to help develop the future common directions and roadmap with a special emphasis on evidence, transparency
and accountability.”
HIFA profile: Richard Fitton is a retired family doctor - GP. Professional interests: Health literacy, patient partnership of trust and implementation of healthcare with professionals, family and public involvement in the prevention of modern lifestyle diseases, patients using access to professional records to overcome confidentiality barriers to care, patients as part of the policing of the use of their patient data
Email address: richardpeterfitton7 AT gmail.com
