Cochrane Africa: a network of evidence-informed health-care decision making across sub-saharan Africa

Cochrane Africa: a network of evidence-informed health-care decision making across sub-saharan Africa

Lawrence Mbuagbaw^1,2,3,&, Pierre Ongolo Zogo¹, Tamara Kredo^4,5, Solange Durao⁴, Taryn Young^4,6, Emmanuel Effa^7,8, Martin Meremikwu^8,9, Ameer Hohlfeld⁴, Charles Wiysonge⁴

¹Centre for the Development of Best Practices in Health, Central Hospital, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon, ²Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, ³Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O’Sullivan Research Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, ⁴Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, ⁵Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, ⁶Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, ⁷Department of Medicine, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria, ⁸Cochrane Nigeria, Institute of Tropical Disease Research and Prevention, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria, ⁹Department of Paediatrics, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

^&Corresponding author
Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Centre for the Development of Best Practices in Health, Central Hospital, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact McMaster University, Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O’Sullivan Research Centre, St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

To the editors of the Pan African Medical Journal    

On the 15^th September 2017, Cochrane Africa was launched at the Global Evidence Summit in Cape Town, South Africa [1]. This network is the result of coordinated efforts to build capacity for conducting systematic reviews and promote the use of best evidence to inform healthcare decision making on the African continent. This network is a much needed response to the high burden of disease, health system challenges and limited research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa [2, 3]. Beginning in 2007, African collaborators came together to encourage the production of high quality systematic reviews that are relevant to Africa and to support their use to inform policy and practice. We have since then, informed many national and international guidelines, especially in malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. Cochrane Africa (www.africa.cochrane.org) includes a coordinating centre at Cochrane South Africa, a Francophone hub directed from Cameroon, a West Africa Hub directed from Nigeria and a Southern/Eastern Africa Hub directed from South Africa. The Network's goal of increasing the use of best evidence to inform healthcare decision making in sub-Saharan Africa is accomplished through five activities: producing context-relevant systematic reviews identified through a consultative process with end-users based on their needs, priorities and acknowledged research gaps; building capacity to conduct and use systematic reviews; advocating for the dissemination, translation and use of evidence; building partnerships to promote African-led evidence-informed healthcare and creating opportunities for the network to grow. Historically, there has only been one Cochrane Centre in Africa, Cochrane South Africa, with a branch in Nigeria. Cochrane Africa represents a unique opportunity to apply known methods for supporting evidence uptake to address issues that plague African health services including limited research capacity, high disease burden and limited use of evidence in formulating and implementing policy. It offers a platform for much needed South-South collaboration, sharing of experiences and addressing some barriers to evidence use in Africa [4]. Our work includes efforts to connect with Francophone and Lusophone countries to build capacity and support the production of systematic reviews in languages other than English. Our strengths lie in the breadth of the network, many years of experience, individual and institutional capacity strengthening and stakeholder engagement.

Conclusion     

We invite interested parties (researchers, health care providers, journalists, policy-makers, consumers) to visit our website and join us to strengthen the network, add relevance to the work we do and reduce inequities in health research that lead to inequities in health outcomes [5].

Competing interests     

The authors declare no competing interest.

Authors’ contributions     

Lawrence Mbuagbaw wrote the first draft. Pierre Ongolo Zogo, Tamara Kredo, Solange Durao, Taryn Young, Emmanuel Effa, Martin Meremikwu, Ameer Hohlfeld, Charles Wiysonge revised several versions of the manuscript. All the authors have read and agreed to the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements     

We acknowledge generous funding from Cochrane's Regional Initiative funding grant and from the Effective Health Care Research Consortium. This Consortium is funded by UK aid from the UK Government for the benefit of developing countries (Grant: 5242). The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect UK government policy.

References     

1. The Cochrane Collaboration. Launch of Cochrane Africa at the Global Evidence Summit: September 2017, Cape Town, South Africa. Accessed on 11 September 2017.


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