Slovenia’s participation in the WHO Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) for Europe was launched in Ljubljana on 17–18 March 2014 with a workshop and activities to raise awareness about the Network.
EVIPNet Europe
EVIPNet is a collaborative network that promotes the systematic use of health research evidence in policy-making. It promotes partnerships between country policy-makers, researchers and civil society to strengthen both policy development and policy implementation through the use of the best available scientific evidence.
Country-level partnerships (also called Knowledge Translation Platforms) are coordinated and supported at regional and global levels. Following successful implementation in other regions, WHO/Europe established in October 2012 EVIPNet Europe, which will support implementation of the new European policy framework Health 2020. In 2013, Slovenia’s Ministry of Health successfully submitted an expression of interest to participate in EVIPNet Europe’s pilot phase.
Over the coming year, Slovenia will participate in country-level activities, including implementation and testing of Knowledge Translation (KT) tools and methods in national health priority areas. As a first step, a situation analysis will be conducted to assess the national evidence-informed policy (EIP) context and identify the institutional niche to establish a Knowledge Translation Platform (KTP).
Kick-off activities
The two-day kick-off event in Slovenia consisted of visits to key institutions by the EVIPNet Europe Secretariat, as well as a workshop attended by participants of Slovenia’s Ministry of Health, the Slovenian National Institute of Public Health, and the Medical Chamber of Slovenia.
These activities were designed to:
- highlight Slovenia’s need for long-term investments in EIP capacities and activities – i.e. a national KTP – for stakeholder collaboration;
- raise awareness and obtain the support of national decision-makers and stakeholders for EVIPNet Europe;
- familiarize EIP leaders with the situation analysis methodology, a mapping exercise central to the network’s pilot phase.