SeriesFrom data to policy: good practices and cautionary tales
Section snippets
The rocky path from data to policy
Evidence-based policymaking has been defined as a “rigorous approach that gathers, critically appraises and uses high quality research evidence to inform policy making and profession practice”.5 Evidence can take many forms: research, economic, and statistical modelling; cost-benefit analyses; stakeholder opinion; and public perceptions and beliefs. The important feature is use of rigorous techniques to develop and maintain a robust evidence base from which to develop policy options. Sound
Routinely reported service data
Health policymakers turn naturally to the health-care system for information. Routine and administrative reports are generated as a by-product of patient-provider interactions and health-facility functioning. (Routine administrative records also generate data for vital statistics through the civil registration system. However, in most low-income settings, these systems are rarely comprehensive in coverage or of sufficient quality to be used as a basis for generating health statistics.) Health
Smoothing the pathway from information to policy: a fourfold schema
Although important challenges need to be addressed in terms of data availability and quality, resolution of these technical issues alone is unlikely to be sufficient to overcome barriers to evidence-based policymaking. Smoothing the pathway from information to policy needs action on the demand side, including management of tensions arising from different values and conflicting political, technical, and cultural perspectives. We present a fourfold schema of good practices at country and global
Conclusions
As more and more countries embark on health reforms and strategies to reduce poverty, the need for sound statistics to identify difficulties with implementation and to assess outcomes will become increasingly acute. In a complex world, keeping track of the effects of policy decisions requires statistical systems that permit rigorous monitoring and assessment. Very few good examples are available, although valuable lessons have been learnt from experiences in Mexico, which, uniquely, invested in
References (52)
- et al.
Health statistics: are we making the right investments?
Lancet
(2007) Towards good practice for health statistics: lessons from the Millennium Development Goal health indicators
Lancet
(2007)- et al.
Interpreting health statistics for policy making: the story behind the headlines
Lancet
(2007) The Ellison Institute: monitoring health, challenging WHO
Lancet
(2005)- et al.
Design should help use of patients' data
Lancet
(1998) - et al.
Trial by media: dangers of misinterpretation of medical statistics
Lancet
(2006) - et al.
Assessing the effect of the 2001–06 Mexican health reform: an interim report card
Lancet
(2006) Counting down poverty: the role of statistics in world development
(2007)Is evidence-based government possible? Jerry Lee Lecture. Presented at the 4th Annual Campbell Collaboration Colloquium; Washington, DC, USA; Feb 19, 2004
Measuring up to the measurement problem: the role of statistics in evidence-based policy-making
(2005)