Abbreviation EvidenceNetwork.ca Legal status active | Formation 2011 | |
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Type Online resource addressing mainstream media coverage of health policy and health research in Canada Purpose To provide evidence-based research and experts to journalists covering health policy issues. Headquarters Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | ||
The Evidence Network of Canadian Health Policy, commonly known as EvidenceNetwork.ca, is a comprehensive and non-partisan online resource designed to help journalists covering health policy issues in Canada. EvidenceNetwork.ca creates original and non-partisan news articles, op-eds, podcasts, videos and infographics for publication in the mainstream media. According to their annual reports, they have published hundreds of original articles in every major media outlet in Canada every year since 2011. All of their content carries a Creative Commons license.
Contents
EvidenceNetwork.ca was created under the direction of Dr. Noralou Roos, the Founding Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and co-founded with Dr. Sharon Manson Singer, professor, School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University, who has since retired from the project. Dr. Roos remains Director and Kathleen O'Grady of Concordia University is the Managing Editor. The initiative is funded with a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) and the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. Additional support was provided by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement.
Background
EvidenceNetwork.ca was established to address the complex debates leading up to the 2014 renegotiation of the Canada Health Accord, and after, to highlight evidence on health policy issues across the country. The Director, Dr, Roos, says, “Health policy issues are increasingly complex and are too often taken over by politics and ideology. We thought the best way to serve the Canadian public would be to create an accessible and reliable resource where journalists can quickly find independent experts and evidence on issues as they arise.”
The site provides evidence-based information on controversial health policy issues for journalists such as the sustainability of the health care system, the impact of the aging population, the rising costs of drugs, accessibility and appropriateness of care, pharmaceutical policy, obesity, mental health, and the role of the private sector. There is also a section on the comparison between Canadian and international models of healthcare. The site offers background papers and provides a comprehensive list of experts from across the country that journalists can contact quickly as they report on breaking health policy stories.
The British Medical Journal's Evidence-Based Medicine highlighted the work of the network as an example for how to facilitate "the science and art of combining opinion and evidence." University Affairs says of the initiative, "The project aims to break the traditional pattern of academics writing for other academics in journals that aren’t read by the mainstream press, or of professors avoiding the media, leaving a select few to appear again and again." J-Source, a professional publication for the Canadian media says of the network, "it's an ambitious initiative to get the latest and best findings in health sciences and policy research into the broader public conversation by engaging the media." In an article for Healthcare Policy, Dr. Roos et al. state that the project "seeks to improve the Canadian healthcare system and, ultimately, the health of Canadians by ensuring that our best health policy evidence is understood by journalists and accurately communicated to Canadians and policy makers."
EvidenceNetwork.ca was established in consultation with experienced media advisors, health and health policy researchers and third party evidence brokers including the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Health Council of Canada.
Commentaries
The network of more than 80 scholars dedicated to evidence-based health research and policy direction also regularly publishes commentaries (OpEds) and articles in the mainstream media. The network has published more than 1200 commentaries and articles in the Canadian press since its inception, and has made all of the articles available for free re-use and dissemination by putting a Creative Commons license on the material. In 2012, the organization published a compendium of their Creative Commons content in an ebook, Canadian Health Policy in the News: Why Evidence Matters. In 2014, they released a second free ebook collection of commentaries, Making Evidence Matter in Canadian Health Policy.
A sample of the network's published commentaries includes:
The Director of the initiative, Dr. Noralou Roos has said in an interview, "There are key discussions going on in health policy, and academics typically have that evidence, and it’s important for those discussions in the media to be informed by evidence as much as possible.”