Use of evidence and data for evidence-informed policy-making in response to COVID-19 challenges

Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal

Call for papers: Use of evidence and data for evidence-informed policy-making in response to COVID-19 challenges

The Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (EMHJ) is planning a special issue on evidence-informed policy-making during COVID-19.

Evidence-informed policy-making relies on using the best available evidence, bearing in mind national contexts, needs, priorities and resources, to improve population health outcomes. Research evidence can help in improving policy development processes, selecting more effective and efficient policy options, foreseeing the potential effects of policies on different socioeconomic groups (equity considerations), recognizing facilitators of and barriers to policy implementation, and assessing the effect of policies on outcomes. Noting the importance of this and despite that are observed in practice between the countries, WHO has embarked on an ambitious agenda to enhance country capacities for evidence-informed policy-making for health.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, enormous pressure was put on policy-makers to identify and implement rapid response measures, which served to further underscore the important of evidence and data in policy-making. The experience with the pandemic demonstrated that further work is needed to ensure decisions remain informed by the best available evidence even under dire situations of emergency.

This thematic issue aims to convey the importance and urgency of enhancing and improving national institutional capacity for evidence-informed policy-making especially in health emergencies; to provide regional and global experts with an opportunity to share experiences, lessons learnt and success stories during the response to COVID-19; and to inform the integrated use of evidence for policy-making in future pandemics. We welcome submissions of papers in Arabic, French or English reporting high quality, original quantitative or qualitative research related to evidence-informed policy-making in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

Evidence synthesis to inform policy-makers of policy options in response to COVID-19

Stakeholder engagements and consultations held to identify priority policy topics during COVID-19

Evidence use and guideline adaptation to propose policy options in reponse to COVID-19

Integrated use of evidence including use of national surveys, health information system, routine data, guideline development and adaptation, ad hoc studies, knowledge translation products and Health technology assessment studies for policy making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enhancing national institutional capacity for evidence-informed policy-making in response to emergencies

Submission information

Authors are kindly requested to submit their manuscript through Editorial Manager platform at:

https://www.editorialmanager.com/emhj/default.aspx 

Please indicate in your submission that it is for consideration for the issue on evidence-informed policy-making. Manuscripts must comply with the “Instructions for authors” which can be found at: http://www.emro.who.int/emh-journal/authors/authors-information.html 

Deadline for submissions: 30 June 2022