Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Ethiopia is a low-income country and has free access to The Cochrane Library (CL). There is only one Cochrane review author in Ethiopia and awareness about the Cochrane Collaboration (CC), the South African Cochrane Centre (SACC), the CL and evidence based practice (EBP) is poor.
Objectives: To raise senior managersá and partnersá awareness about EBP, the CC, SACC and lay a foundation to strengthen EBP.
Methods: After four months of planning, a one-day national awareness-raising workshop was conducted on December 1, 2010 in Addis Ababa by the American International Health Alliance (AIHA), the SACC and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Results: Sixty-five senior managers from Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Zambia, and Tanzania attended the workshop. The interactive workshop consisted of five sessions. It started with international and African initiatives in EBP including the work of the CC and the SACC in promoting EBP in Africa. Participants then presented on how EBP is promoted or used in their institutions and during the 4th session, a demonstration of the CL and how to search for evidence was given. Lastly, participants discussed how to advance EBP in their countries.
Conclusions: The national workshop was very successful and participants learnt from it. However EBP faces many challenges in Ethiopia: there is only one Cochrane review author in Ethiopia, awareness is poor, and no institution is actively leading and supporting EBP activities. To address the challenges, a committee of key stakeholders was established to take over the leadership role to advocate for EBP and coordinate all the efforts to promote EBP in Ethiopia.
Objectives: To raise senior managersá and partnersá awareness about EBP, the CC, SACC and lay a foundation to strengthen EBP.
Methods: After four months of planning, a one-day national awareness-raising workshop was conducted on December 1, 2010 in Addis Ababa by the American International Health Alliance (AIHA), the SACC and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Results: Sixty-five senior managers from Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Zambia, and Tanzania attended the workshop. The interactive workshop consisted of five sessions. It started with international and African initiatives in EBP including the work of the CC and the SACC in promoting EBP in Africa. Participants then presented on how EBP is promoted or used in their institutions and during the 4th session, a demonstration of the CL and how to search for evidence was given. Lastly, participants discussed how to advance EBP in their countries.
Conclusions: The national workshop was very successful and participants learnt from it. However EBP faces many challenges in Ethiopia: there is only one Cochrane review author in Ethiopia, awareness is poor, and no institution is actively leading and supporting EBP activities. To address the challenges, a committee of key stakeholders was established to take over the leadership role to advocate for EBP and coordinate all the efforts to promote EBP in Ethiopia.