UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The utilisation of systematic review evidence in formulating India's National Health Programme guidelines between 2007 to 2021

Rajwar, Eti; Pundir, Prachi; Shradha, S Parsekar; D S, Anupama; D'Souza, Sonia RB; Nayak, Baby S; Noronha, Judith Angelitta; ... Oliver, Sandy; + view all (2023) The utilisation of systematic review evidence in formulating India's National Health Programme guidelines between 2007 to 2021. Health Policy Plan , Article czad008. 10.1093/heapol/czad008. (In press). Green open access

[thumbnail of czad008.pdf]
Preview
Text
czad008.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Evidence informed policymaking integrates the best available evidence on programme outcomes to guide decisions at all stages of the policy process and its importance becomes more pronounced in resource constrained settings. In this paper, we have reviewed the use of systematic review evidence in framing National Health Programme (NHP) guidelines in India. We searched official websites of the different NHPs, linked to the main website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), in December 2020 and January 2021. NHP guideline documents with systematic review evidence were identified and information on the use of this evidence was extracted. We classified the identified systematic review evidence according to its use in the guideline documents and analysed the data to provide information on the different factors and patterns linked to the use of systematic review evidence in these documents. Systematic reviews were mostly visible in guideline documents addressing maternal and newborn health, communicable diseases and immunization. These systematic reviews were cited in the guidelines to justify the need for action, to justify recommendations for action and opportunities for local adaptation; and to highlight implementation challenges and justify implementation strategies. Guideline documents addressing implementation cited systematic reviews about the problems and policy options more often than citing systematic reviews about implementation. Systematic reviews were linked directly to support statements in few guideline documents, and sometimes the reviews were not appropriately cited. Most of the systematic reviews providing information on the nature and scale of the policy problem included Indian data. It was seen that since 2014, India has been increasingly using systematic review evidence for public health policymaking particularly for some of its high priority NHPs. This complements the increasing investment in research synthesis centres and procedures to support evidence informed decision making, demonstrating the continued evolution of India's evidence policy system.

Type: Article
Title: The utilisation of systematic review evidence in formulating India's National Health Programme guidelines between 2007 to 2021
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czad008
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czad008
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Evidence Synthesis, Evidence informed policymaking, India, National Health Programmes, Policymaking, Public Health
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10166888
Downloads since deposit
35Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item