Washington, DC, 17 June 2010 (PAHO) — The bulletin is a joint proposal of the Ibero-American Cochrane Network (IBCN), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Argentina’s National Academy of Medicine (Academia Nacional de Medicina de Argentina), IHCAI Foundation, the Ibero-American Ministerial Network for Health Education and Research (RIMAIS), with the decisive backing of the Wellcome Trust.

Although there currently exists a vast amount of information and materials that illustrate the intricacies of the evidence to policy process, few articles are written in Spanish and are specifically geared towards policy makers. Moreover, most articles on the subject showcase examples that are not readily applicable to low and middle-income countries. The Bulletin targets Regional policy makers and has been designed by a group of local experts with deep knowledge of local context and needs . Additionally, we hope that it will be useful to technical officers from the Latin American National Health Authorities.

Objective

The Bulletin is a web-based audiovisual tool that aims to promote evidenced-informed public health policies in Latin America and to explore critical aspects of “bridging the know-do-gap” in public health. Using a case study format, the audience will familiarize itself with critical aspects of using research evidence to bridge the know-do-gap in public health.

Format

The format will foster active engagement trough the development of an interactive web-site where policy makers, health technical officers and other stakeholders will be able to participate in an active dialogue and link to other initiatives, networks, and organizations that can provide technical collaboration to support their efforts in this area.

Presenting the information using a case-study approach will allow a better understanding of the beneficial effects of the use of evidence informed policies and the application of health research to improve public health. The use of local/regional stories with which the policy makers can identify will facilitate the process.

The bulletin is available at: http://new.paho.org/pie.