Supporting policy-relevant reviews and trials (SUPPORT)
Policymakers do not want to ignore research evidence when making policy but they often do. The goal of SUPPORT is to make this less likely for policy related to maternal and child health in low and middle income countries (LMIC) by improving access to and use of relevant and reliable research evidence.
The Millennium Declaration of 2000 set eight major goals (MDGs) to be achieved by year 2015, including the reduction of child and maternal mortality. Progress is slow. Eleven million children still die each year before their fifth birthday in LMIC, and 529 000 women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth.
LMIC have limited resources with which to address these problems, and yet a substantial portion of these resources is used for interventions whose effectiveness is unknown or even disproved. Similarly, effective interventions and policies may be underused. Progress towards the MDGs requires well-informed selection and implementation of effective healthcare interventions and policies. Collaboration between decision makers and researchers is necessary to accomplish this.
SUPPORT aims to improve evidence-informed decision-making by, firstly, producing for LMIC policy-makers and researchers highly focused, quality assessed and policy relevant summaries of research evidence in the field of maternal and child health and, secondly, increase the ability of LMIC researchers to provide this evidence. A range of tools and workshops to complement this work will disseminate results to a wide audience in LMIC. Software will be developed to support the day-to-day conduct and management of trials so that it is easier for LMIC researchers to address knowledge gaps. SUPPORT will help to align the priorities of policy-makers and researchers in partner countries and promote evidence-informed policies. The SUPPORT collaboration builds on two existing networks with experience in research and linkage to policy-making, one in Latin America and one in sub-Saharan Africa.
SUPPORT has a budget of 1.2 million Euro and is still in the negotiation phase with the European Commission. The project formally began in the autumn of 2006.
SUPPORT has its own website: http://www.support-collaboration.org/ (a new window will open)
This page was last updated 14th January 2008.