Supporting the routine use of evidence during the policy-making process: a WHO Checklist

ABSTRACT

This WHO checklist is for any organization or person supporting the routine use of evidence in the process of policy-making. Evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and universal health coverage (UHC). Its importance is emphasized in WHO's Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019­2023 (GPW13). This checklist was developed by the WHO Secretariat of Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) to assist its Member countries in institutionalizing EIPM. Government agencies (i.e. the staff of the Ministry of Health), knowledge intermediaries and researchers focused on strengthening EIPM will find in this checklist some key steps and tools to help their work. While the health sector is a key target group for EVIPNet, this tool can be applied by stakeholders from different social sectors. The focus of this tool is to present the domains and processes through which government bodies can institutionalize the use of evidence. It can be used by people and organizations supporting governments, from the inside or the outside, to reflect on its path towards evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM). Given the general paucity of texts that offer guidance in understanding the institutionalization of EIPM, this tool is largely based on two recent systematic reviews/critical interpretive syntheses, one of which was developed specifically for the Checklist. These summarize the available evidence on this subject.