Strengthening health research and evidence-based decision making
Health research is essential to improving health systems performance and contributing to the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, the ultimate benefit of health research lies in its translation into strategies, technologies, policies and interventions that are effectively and appropriately delivered to benefit the people, in particular the poor and other vulnerable groups. In many countries in the Western Pacific Region, the reality is that health policies are seldom well-informed by research evidence, either because the evidence base on many topics is inadequate or because health research capacity is limited to begin with.
WHO Western Pacific Regional Office promotes evidence-informed health policy-making in which it supports the use of best available health research evidence in making informed health policy decisions. In particular, the Regional Office is responsible for:
- Strengthening health research capacity.
- Developing and enabling environments for research through the creation of norms and standards for good research practice.
- Leveraging data to improve health, translating it into evidence-informed policy.