WHO AFRO Side Event:
Tackling Health Emergencies and Challenges with Evidence in the African Region
Tuesday, 16 November 2021, 9:00-12:00 CET
Interpretation available: FRA, POR
Evidence-informed policy-decision-making is essential to accelerate the achievement of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the triple billion goals as outlined in the WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023 (GPW 13) and the WHO AFRO flagship project on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In 2006, WHO launched the Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) in response to resolution WHA58.34 targeted at increased use of evidence for health policy making.
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EVIPNet is a global network and community of people that share a vision to see, and collaboratively engage in efforts to support, a world in which high-quality, context-sensitive evidence routinely informs health decision-making processes.
The collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an unprecedented opportunity to assess the relationship between evidence, policy and wider society.
To take stock of and explore the lessons learned during the pandemic, the organization of a WHO Summit is being proposed. On 25th August 2021, the Regional Committee of the WHO African Region endorsed a framework to strengthen the use of evidence, information and research in health policy making in the region.
This summit presents an opportunity to start the process of consultation with stakeholders on the implementation of the new framework. Thus, the WHO AFRO has also proposed to hold a 3-hour side event during the summit to interrogate the status of the links in evidence and policies in the region. The WHO AFRO side event at the Global Summit will bring together researchers and policy-makers from WHO African Region and international institutions, Member States, universities, research institutes and consultancies to identify lessons learned as well as common challenges, and provide recommendations moving forward to support evidence-informed decision-making in view of spurring progress towards the SDGs and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the African Region.
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