Objectives
WP 8 aims to establish a sustainable infrastructure to support rapid exchange between actors from competent authorities, their advisors, researchers and stakeholders in the joint efforts to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. The emphasis is to collect and disseminate existing information and generate new (evidence-based) information as needed. The WP will represent a central contact point for the partners and it will provide evidence-based policy support with the specific objectives:
- To provide rapid response to research and policy questions that are raised in countries.
- To promptly disseminate internationally agreed guidelines, standards, reports and initiatives.
- To exchange (best) practices among countries regarding COVID-19.
- To provide a link with policy: the shifting landscape of evidence for policy.
Task 8.1: Needs Assessment of COVID-19 topics to be covered in first instance
This task will perform a needs assessment of evidence-based policy support among health policy makers to identify the gaps between research and policy. The exercise will try to identify best practices and lessons learned of evidence-based policy support during the COVID-19 pandemic to help researchers to better respond to health policy makers’ needs in future pandemics.
Task 8.2: Build up a one-stop shop for and between countries seeking for urgent answers
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, health policy decision makers, their advisors and researchers are in urgent need to obtain evidence-based information on a variety of topics that serve as a basis for health policy decision making. This task will organize virtual, bi-weekly meetings in which the participants will discuss updates of previously discussed topics and will share information from the experiences in their own countries on specific questions submitted until 24 hours prior to the meeting.
Task 8.3: Establish a reliable network of experts and expertise for short-term inquiries involving existing and planned Networks
The specific objective of task 3 is to establish a network of experts and expertise that can easily be approached for the purpose of information exchange and review of evidence-based policy support information, e.g. in an open forum. Further, the expert network shall complement existing expertise of project partners.
Task 8.4: COVID-19 related international guidelines, initiatives, projects and information sources
Task 8.4 starts with a mapping exercise of sources of population health information on COVID-19 to provide relevant population health guidelines, standards, and reports with the aid of web scraping. Afterwards, this task will create a catalogue of existing international initiatives and projects on COVID-19 related diagnosis, treatments, interventions and measures (except policy measures) conducted in EU/EEA Countries.
Task 8.5 Monitor COVID-19 Policy and Impact Measures
This task will perform a mapping exercise of policy and impact measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic in EU member states. The review results will constitute the basis for a catalogue in the Health Information portal that will be regularly maintained throughout the project duration.
The leads and co-leads to this work package are:
Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) Ministry for Health - Government of Malta (MFH)
