Using research evidence for policy-making. Report of the 4th EVIPNet Europe multicountry meeting ( 2016)

Meeting report

15–16 June 2016, Chisinau, Republis of Moldova

This report describes the fourth multicountry meeting of the Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) Europe, an initiative of the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe). EVIPNet Europe aims to increase country capacity in developing health policies informed by the best available research evidence, supporting the implementation of the European policy framework Health 2020, the European Health Information Initiative (a multimember WHO network committed to improving health by improving the information that underpins policy) and the "Action plan to strengthen the use of evidence, information and research for policy-making in the WHO European Region". EVIPNet Europe institutionalizes knowledge translation – the process of fostering research use in policymaking – through the establishment of national country teams (so-called knowledge translation platforms) that plan and implement knowledge translation activities at country level. At multicountry level, the network organizes inter alia capacity-building activities such as this fourth annual multicountry meeting in June 2016, which was attended by network members from 19 countries. The meeting covered topics such as strengthening networkwide commitment, coordination and support; fostering good communication and collaboration; increasing awareness of operationalizing, communicating, monitoring and evaluating activities of country teams; and improving understanding of a range of tools that the network promotes, such as situation analyses, evidence briefs for policy and policy dialogues. As next steps, countries will turn their attention to national EVIPNet activities and to further strengthening the network. These efforts contribute substantially towards the network’s global aims to promote partnerships at all levels, aiming to engender better knowledge translation and evidence-informed policy-making to strengthen health systems and produce better health outcomes.