Forum named WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy

December 6, 2010 – The McMaster Health Forum will play a greater international role in supporting evidence-informed policymaking about the governance, financial and delivery arrangements of health systems with its designation as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre.

The four-year designation is the culmination of a year-long process and ongoing work with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and with WHO, led by John Lavis, director of the Forum, and Holger Schunemann, chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, to design and coordinate plans for how PAHO’s and WHO’s priorities in the field of knowledge translation could be advanced by this new collaborating centre.

The groundwork that led to the designation of the McMaster Health Forum as a WHO Collaborating Centre was discussed in November 2009, when Ulysses Panisset (left) of WHO and  Luis Gabriel Cuervo (third from right) of PAHO were at McMaster to take part in a Forum stakeholder dialogue. The two met with (from left) Ileana Ciurea, managing director of the Forum; John Lavis, director of the Forum; CE&B chair Holger Schunemann; and Susan Denburg, associate dean, academic for the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Forum is one of only two units at McMaster University to be granted the prestigious designation. The WHO Collaborating Centre in Primary Care Nursing and Health Human Resources was established in 1992, and is currently led by Andrea Baumann, associate vice-president, international health.

"The designation of the Forum as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy will enhance our opportunities for applying our innovative initiatives to ensure that the best available evidence on pressing health challenges is incorporated into decisions on health system policies throughout the world," said Lavis. "Through our stakeholder dialogues, the evidence briefs and issue briefs that inform them, as well as the many other activities in which the Forum and its partners engage, the work of this new collaborating centre can have a significant impact on improving health outcomes in an array of developed and developing nations."

Both PAHO and WHO have a long-standing practice of working in partnership with existing organizations such as research institutes, universities and academies, as they believe research in the field of health is best advanced by assisting, coordinating and making use of the activities of existing institutions. There are more than 800 WHO collaborating centres world-wide, working in areas such as nursing, communicable diseases, chronic diseases and health technologies.

PAHO, a Regional Office of WHO, works to improve health and living standards of people in the Americas. It is also a Member of the United Nations and Inter-American systems.

Lavis and Schunemann will work collaboratively to achieve the mandate of the centre as outlined by PAHO and WHO. Their efforts will focus on supporting and improving health systems research and development, as well as supporting the implementation of the PAHO Policy on Research for Health and the WHO Strategy on Research for Health.

Through training and educational activities such as workshops and policy dialogues, developing products such as guidelines, manuals and methodologies, and supporting the implementation of WHO programs at the country level (including the WHO-sponsored Evidence-Informed Policy Network), the collaborating centre will increase the capacity of individual countries and their institutions to make better-informed decisions with regard to healthcare policy and delivery that will ultimately improve the overall health status of citizens.

For more information on WHO Collaborating Centres, visit the websites of WHO and PAHO.