Article type
Abstract
Objectives
The World Health Organization (WHO) develops a wide range of normative products including guidelines, policy options, implementation guidance, evaluation methods, and research agendas as part of its core mandate of global normative leadership. Given major recent, current, and emerging crises (e.g., COVID-19, conflicts, and climate change), questions have been asked regarding how well WHO is performing this role, what is its impact at a country level, and what should change to strengthen WHO’s normative function as it moves forward into an increasingly complex future.
This session will put forth some key visions from contributors who submitted manuscripts to a special edition of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, to be published in October 2024, which called for constructive criticism and creative solutions in order for WHO to meet these continued challenges, utilize the full potential of the evidence ecosystem, and fulfill its global normative leadership function.
Description and Activities/Interaction Plans
First, a short scene-setting introduction by Lisa Askie (WHO), followed by 10-min presentations from each of five diverse (non-WHO, gender and geographically balanced) speakers, covering the perspectives of evidence generators, evidence synthesizers, guideline developers, knowledge translators, and in-country (e.g., government, health care personnel, citizen) evidence users. Then the audience will be invited to give input via a request to comment on (speak to) the possible barriers and facilitators to the suggested solutions put forward by the speakers. For example, the facilitators will ask questions regarding who/how would the suggested solutions be funded or sustained? How acceptable and feasible would these solutions be to implement at a country, regional, or global level? What can the evidence community do to ensure the suggested changes succeed? A final summation and concluding remarks regarding the challenges and possible ways forward for WHO by John Lavis will conclude the session.
The World Health Organization (WHO) develops a wide range of normative products including guidelines, policy options, implementation guidance, evaluation methods, and research agendas as part of its core mandate of global normative leadership. Given major recent, current, and emerging crises (e.g., COVID-19, conflicts, and climate change), questions have been asked regarding how well WHO is performing this role, what is its impact at a country level, and what should change to strengthen WHO’s normative function as it moves forward into an increasingly complex future.
This session will put forth some key visions from contributors who submitted manuscripts to a special edition of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, to be published in October 2024, which called for constructive criticism and creative solutions in order for WHO to meet these continued challenges, utilize the full potential of the evidence ecosystem, and fulfill its global normative leadership function.
Description and Activities/Interaction Plans
First, a short scene-setting introduction by Lisa Askie (WHO), followed by 10-min presentations from each of five diverse (non-WHO, gender and geographically balanced) speakers, covering the perspectives of evidence generators, evidence synthesizers, guideline developers, knowledge translators, and in-country (e.g., government, health care personnel, citizen) evidence users. Then the audience will be invited to give input via a request to comment on (speak to) the possible barriers and facilitators to the suggested solutions put forward by the speakers. For example, the facilitators will ask questions regarding who/how would the suggested solutions be funded or sustained? How acceptable and feasible would these solutions be to implement at a country, regional, or global level? What can the evidence community do to ensure the suggested changes succeed? A final summation and concluding remarks regarding the challenges and possible ways forward for WHO by John Lavis will conclude the session.