Article type
Abstract
Background: International scholars have recognized the need for formalizing and strengthening national evidence-support systems to support evidence-informed decision-making. Countries must have units capable of using the best global scientific evidence and contextualizing it with local scientific evidence to respond to the challenges of national health systems in a timely way.
Objectives: The Unit of Evidence and Deliberation for Decision Making (in Spanish, UNED) in Colombia aims to strengthen evidence-informed decision-making by developing, implementing, and evaluating knowledge translation strategies to support different decision-makers.
Methods: Several KT strategies are implemented in the UNED, including rapid evidence syntheses, participation in evidence-informed policy processes (EIPPs), citizen panels, deliberative dialogues, living evidence syntheses, and evidence gap maps, among others. This rapid evidence support unit identifies, quality-assesses, and maps the existing local and global evidence, considering the timeliness, user centeredness, equity considerations, and rigor of methods required to answer decision-makers' needs reliably.
Results: The support of the UNED in informing the decision-making of several actors can be identified in several fields. UNED has developed EIPP on the possible uses of plants with psychoactive properties in the health system; generated strategies for optimizing the use of antimicrobials and controlling antimicrobial resistance; supported the formulation of medicinal use of cannabis policies; and in the development of strategies to improve the geographical distribution, availability, and retention of health human resources, developed mechanisms to articulate health processes with community knowledge, public health processes, and social welfare; the availability of evidence on the effectiveness of vaccines in children and adolescents; and cleaning and disinfection strategies to reduce transmission and morbidity and mortality from COVID-19.
Conclusions: UNED is an example of a national knowledge translation unit that contextualizes global evidence to support policy decisions of various actors in Colombia, contributing to the generation of strategies and the formulation of more effective policies to respond to health and social challenges.
Objectives: The Unit of Evidence and Deliberation for Decision Making (in Spanish, UNED) in Colombia aims to strengthen evidence-informed decision-making by developing, implementing, and evaluating knowledge translation strategies to support different decision-makers.
Methods: Several KT strategies are implemented in the UNED, including rapid evidence syntheses, participation in evidence-informed policy processes (EIPPs), citizen panels, deliberative dialogues, living evidence syntheses, and evidence gap maps, among others. This rapid evidence support unit identifies, quality-assesses, and maps the existing local and global evidence, considering the timeliness, user centeredness, equity considerations, and rigor of methods required to answer decision-makers' needs reliably.
Results: The support of the UNED in informing the decision-making of several actors can be identified in several fields. UNED has developed EIPP on the possible uses of plants with psychoactive properties in the health system; generated strategies for optimizing the use of antimicrobials and controlling antimicrobial resistance; supported the formulation of medicinal use of cannabis policies; and in the development of strategies to improve the geographical distribution, availability, and retention of health human resources, developed mechanisms to articulate health processes with community knowledge, public health processes, and social welfare; the availability of evidence on the effectiveness of vaccines in children and adolescents; and cleaning and disinfection strategies to reduce transmission and morbidity and mortality from COVID-19.
Conclusions: UNED is an example of a national knowledge translation unit that contextualizes global evidence to support policy decisions of various actors in Colombia, contributing to the generation of strategies and the formulation of more effective policies to respond to health and social challenges.