Translation of evidence for health policy

This chapter discusses evidence and the policy-making process and offers strategies and examples of evidence translated into policy at various public and private levels of policy making. For evidence to be translated into policy, the evidence must be communicated in an understandable and accessible manner to policy makers. Lavis, Posada, Haines, and Osei recommend using systematic reviews to summarize new evidence and answer three simple questions for policy makers: Could it work? What will it take to make it work? and Is the balance of risk and benefit worth the effort? Knowledge translation for evidence-based policy has been described as a unidirectional flow of information. If the flow of information was from the researcher to the policy maker, it was called the science-push or knowledge-driven model. Conversely, if the policy maker commissioned the information to address a policy problem, it was referred to as a demand-pull or problem-solving model.