15

Novermber

2021

High level panel

Leveraging evidence for policy change and societal transformation

Monday, 15 November 2021, 15:00-15:50 CET

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for better collaboration at the interface of evidence, policy and society. A key challenge to many decision-makers was the rapidly evolving body of new and at times conflicting evidence. The global health crisis has, furthermore, thrown the inherently political character of health policy-making into sharp relief.

Institutional mechanisms for evidence-informed decision-making, fostering both formal and informal relationships between evidence producers, users, and brokers, helped decision-makers to sort fact from fiction and navigate actionable evidence almost in real time. COVID-19 demonstrated that responding to the fast-paced developments of a health emergency requires evidence-to-policy systems that can swiftly deliver relevant, high-quality, and trustworthy evidence.

The high-level roundtable with Ministers of Health from around the world will reflect on the role of evidence-policy mechanisms during COVID-19. The distinguished speakers will explore which investments will be needed to strengthen the capacities and capabilities of national systems to improve decision-making - both in routine processes and in future global crises.

Key questions and session highlights

Which sources of evidence have proven most useful for policy and political decisions in response to the pandemic?

Which specific institutions and evidence-to-policy mechanisms have governments relied on to facilitate evidence use in policies?
What steps should be taken to strengthen and institutionalize multisectoral research-policy systems at national level?