Health Forum named WHO Collaborating Centre

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/health forum who.jpg” caption=”The groundwork that led to the designation of the McMaster Health Forum as a WHO Collaborating Centre was discussed in November 2009, when Ulysses Panisset (left) of WHO and Luis Gabriel Cuervo (third from right) of PAHO were at McMaster to take part in a Forum stakeholder dialogue. The two met with (from left) Ileana Ciurea, managing director of the Forum; John Lavis, director of the Forum; CE&B chair Holger Schunemann; and Susan Denburg, associate dean, academic for the Faculty of Health Sciences.”]

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The McMaster Health Forum
will play a greater international role in supporting
evidence-informed policymaking for health systems with its new designation as a
World Health
Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre.

The four-year designation is the culmination of a year-long process and ongoing work
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[img_inline align="right" src="http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/health forum who.jpg" caption="The groundwork that led to the designation of the McMaster Health Forum as a WHO Collaborating Centre was discussed in November 2009, when Ulysses Panisset (left) of WHO and  Luis Gabriel Cuervo (third from right) of PAHO were at McMaster to take part in a Forum stakeholder dialogue. The two met with (from left) Ileana Ciurea, managing director of the Forum; John Lavis, director of the Forum; CE&B chair Holger Schunemann; and Susan Denburg, associate dean, academic for the Faculty of Health Sciences."]<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br />
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<br><br />
The <a href="http://www.mcmasterhealthforum.org/">McMaster Health Forum</a> <br />
will play a greater international role in supporting <br />
evidence-informed policymaking for health systems with its new designation as a <br />
<a href="http://www.who.int/collaboratingcentres/en/index.html ">World Health <br />
Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre</a>.<br />
<br />
The four-year designation is the culmination of a year-long process and ongoing work <br />
with the <a href="http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?<br />
option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=220">Pan American Health <br />
Organization (PAHO)</a> and WHO, led by John Lavis, director <br />
of the Forum, and Holger Schunemann, chair of the Department of Clinical <br />
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, to design and coordinate plans for how PAHO&#039;s and the <br />
WHO&#039;s priorities in the field of knowledge translation could be advanced by this new <br />
collaborating centre.<br />
<br />
Through training and educational activities such as workshops and policy dialogues, <br />
developing products such as guidelines, manuals and methodologies, and supporting <br />
the implementation of WHO programs at the country level (including the WHO-<br />
sponsored Evidence-Informed Policy Networks), the collaborating centre will increase <br />
the capacity of individual countries and their institutions to make better-informed <br />
decisions with regard to healthcare policy and delivery that will ultimately improve the <br />
overall health status of citizens.<br />
<br />
The Forum is one of only two units at McMaster University to be granted the <br />
prestigious designation. The WHO Collaborating Centre in Primary Care Nursing and <br />
Health Human Resources was established in 1992, and is currently led by Andrea <br />
Baumann, associate vice-president international health in the Faculty of Health <br />
Sciences.<br />
<br />
"The designation of the Forum as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed <br />
Policy will enhance our opportunities for applying our innovative initiatives to ensure <br />
that the best available evidence on pressing health challenges is incorporated into <br />
decisions on health system policies throughout the world," said Lavis. "Through our <br />
stakeholder dialogues, the evidence briefs and issue briefs that inform them, as well as <br />
the many other activities in which the Forum and its partners engage, the work of this <br />
new collaborating centre can have a significant impact on improving health outcomes <br />
in an array of developed and developing nations."<br />
<br />
Both PAHO and WHO have a long-standing practice of working in partnership with <br />
existing organizations such as research institutes, universities and academies, as they <br />
believe research in the field of health is best advanced by assisting, coordinating and <br />
making use of the activities of existing institutions. There are more than 800 WHO <br />
collaborating centres world-wide, working in areas such as nursing, communicable <br />
diseases, chronic diseases and health technologies.<br />
<br />
PAHO is the regional office of WHO that works to improve health and living standards <br />
of people in the Americas.<br />
<br />
Lavis and Schunemann will work collaboratively to achieve the mandate of the centre as <br />
outlined by PAHO and WHO. Their efforts will focus on supporting and improving <br />
health systems research and development, and support the implementation of the two <br />
organizations&#039; policies and strategies on research for health. Such work is crucial to <br />
determining how best to get cost-effective programs, services and drugs to those who <br />
need them.<br />
<br />
For more information on WHO collaborating centres, visit the websites of WHO and <br />
PAHO. <br />
<br />
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