Evidence On Mechanisms And Tools For Use Of Health Information For Decision Making

The World Health Assembly in 2005 urged Member States to establish or strengthen knowledge transfer mechanisms to support evidence-informed health policies and health care delivery. The European Health Information Initiative was set up to strengthen the use of evidence information and research for policy-making in the WHO European Region. While good-quality health information is a key component for decision-making it needs to be packaged and communicated in an effective way to policy-makers the end-users. This report describes tools and mechanisms that can help to increase the use of health information in policy development. Packaging tools include synthesis methods such as policy briefs and visualization methods. Application tools include surveillance data and modelling/simulation to explore the behaviour and performance of processes and interventions. Dissemination and communication tools include health information-sharing platforms newsletters and person-to-person communications. Finally linkage and exchange tools such as knowledge networks facilitate the dissemination and refining of health information thus increasing the chance of its translation into policy.

The World Health Assembly in 2005 urged Member States to establish or strengthen knowledge transfer mechanisms to support evidence-informed health policies and health care delivery. The European Health Information Initiative was set up to strengthen the use of evidence, information and research for policy-making in the WHO European Region. While good-quality health information is a key component for decision-making, it needs to be packaged and communicated in an effective way to policy-makers, the end-users. This report describes tools and mechanisms that can help to increase the use of health information in policy development. Packaging tools include synthesis methods, such as policy briefs, and visualization methods. Application tools include surveillance data and modelling/simulation to explore the behaviour and performance of processes and interventions. Dissemination and communication tools include health information-sharing platforms, newsletters and person-to-person communications. Finally, linkage and exchange tools such as knowledge networks facilitate the dissemination and refining of health information, thus increasing the chance of its translation into policy.

With the half-way point in the implementation period of Health 2020 having been crossed this report reflects on the effect that the policy has had on the Region. Like its predecessors in 2012 and 2015 the 2018 report is an essential resource for the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region to report on progress towards the Health 2020 targets outlining areas that may be unfinished by 2020 and beyond. Lessons learned from across the Region on action taken by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and Member States to improve the health and well-being of their populations are presented. The report also addresses the new public health challenges that have emerged in recent years. To respond effectively to these challenges new forms of evidence are essential to measure health and well-being in different cultural and subjective contexts. This is particularly important in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals whose health indicators overlap significantly with those for Health 2020. The report will be a useful source of information for policy-makers throughout the Region helping them identify areas that need further assessment and policy action at the national level. It should inspire Member States and other stakeholders to contribute to the work under the umbrella of the WHO European Health Information Initiative: a collaboration between the Regional Office European institutions and Member States aimed at improving the information that underpins policy. Only through broad international cooperation and bold strides in the way evidence is used in the 21st century will evidence fully inform health policy-making for the benefit of all.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. This book is the first to develop explicit methods for evaluating evidence of mechanisms in the field of medicine. It explains why it can be important to make this evidence explicit, and describes how to take such evidence into account in the evidence appraisal process. In addition, it develops procedures for seeking evidence of mechanisms, for evaluating evidence of mechanisms, and for combining this evaluation with evidence of association in order to yield an overall assessment of effectiveness. Evidence-based medicine seeks to achieve improved health outcomes by making evidence explicit and by developing explicit methods for evaluating it. To date, evidence-based medicine has largely focused on evidence of association produced by clinical studies. As such, it has tended to overlook evidence of pathophysiological mechanisms and evidence of the mechanisms of action of interventions. The book offers a useful guide for all those whose work involves evaluating evidence in the health sciences, including those who need to determine the effectiveness of health interventions and those who need to ascertain the effects of environmental exposures.

Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

The importance of evidence-informed approaches in policy formulation and implementation has long been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States. With the General Programme of Work (GPW)13 and the creation of the Science Division, WHO has reinforced its science and evidence-based mandate. This guide offers staff and partner organizations a compendium of WHO tools to successfully leverage evidence for policy and impact, and promote evidence-informed decision-making for safe and effective health policy and practice at country and global levels. Through its framework, the guide will increase awareness and uptake of existing tools and best practices, and additionally facilitate collaboration between areas within the Organization and with partners across countries and regions.

This open access book comprehensively covers the fundamentals of clinical data science, focusing on data collection, modelling and clinical applications. Topics covered in the first section on data collection include: data sources, data at scale (big data), data stewardship (FAIR data) and related privacy concerns. Aspects of predictive modelling using techniques such as classification, regression or clustering, and prediction model validation will be covered in the second section. The third section covers aspects of (mobile) clinical decision support systems, operational excellence and value-based healthcare. Fundamentals of Clinical Data Science is an essential resource for healthcare professionals and IT consultants intending to develop and refine their skills in personalized medicine, using solutions based on large datasets from electronic health records or telemonitoring programmes. The book’s promise is “no math, no code”and will explain the topics in a style that is optimized for a healthcare audience.