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A request for help from readers
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Fair tests of health-care policies and treatments: a request for help from readers
Andrew D Oxman a & Iain Chalmers b
a. Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Health Services, Oslo, Norway.
b. James Lind Library, Oxford, England.
Correspondence to Andrew D Oxman (e-mail: oxman@online.no).
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2009;87:407-407. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.066787
Health-care policies impact on peoples’ lives. For example, a policy decision not to have publicly funded health insurance with universal coverage limits peoples’ choices to what they can afford. Those who make policy decisions are ethically and politically bound to make decisions that are in the interests of the people whom they serve. Evaluating the effects of policies is important because this is the only way of knowing the extent to which policies are doing more good than harm.
We would appreciate assistance from Bulletin readers to address the question: what is a fair test of a health-care policy? There are three ways in which you can help us. (View full text)
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Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development
Abstract: In 2005 the World Health Organisation (WHO) asked its Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR) for advice on ways in which WHO can improve the use of research evidence in the development of recommendations, including guidelines and policies. The ACHR established the Subcommittee on the Use of Research Evidence (SURE) to collect background documentation and consult widely among WHO staff, international experts and end users of WHO recommendations to inform its advice to WHO. We have prepared a series of reviews of methods that are used in the development of guidelines as part of this background documentation. We describe here the background and methods of these reviews, which are being published in Health Research Policy and Systems together with this introduction.(View/Download pdf)
Resumo Nos dias 28 e 29 de março de 2008, os Institutos Canadenses de Pesquisa em Saúde (ICPS) realizaram em Ottawa uma jornada sobre a divulgação de resultados de ensaios clínicos. A jornada recebeu o nome PROCTOR, sigla do título em inglês Public Reporting of Clinical Trials and Outcomes and Results—Divulgação Pública de Inferências e Resultados de Ensaios Clínicos. (View/Download pdf)