Background: To ensure that health policies are appropriate, effective and cost-effective, they need to be based on sound evidence. The World Health Organization (WHO) aims for the institutionalization of the use of evidence in policymaking for health, through supporting the establishment of the required processes, structures and capacities at a national level.
Objectives: To streamline capacity building efforts, key resources available internationally have been identified and categorized to provide policymakers, policy developers and researchers with a high-quality selection of training opportunities, in the area of evidence-informed policymaking.
Methods: Following an assessment of the priority needs of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, through regular consultations with member states, a series of key words have been identified, to inform an initial search strategy. By using these key words, a range of online databases were searched for relevant training materials. The materials were then shortlisted, based on quality, relevance and ease of access.
Results: A repository of more than 150 training materials was created and categorized under 13 thematic areas, which became collections of smaller training packages. A guiding flowchart was created, to provide a recommended training route, through a series of relevant questions that led the users through the available training materials.
Conclusions: The EIPM training package is a collection of publicly available international resources that serves as an effective and efficient way to readily provide users with practical resources. By using existing training programs, this web-based resource is an efficient and cost-effective way for capacity building, particularly for low- and middle-income countries, as it is easily accessible and free of charge. WHO advocates the use of this unique resource that brings together a wealth of knowledge, developed by different teams across the globe.
Patient, public and/or healthcare consumer involvement: Not applicable.