The Alliance welcomed the outcomes of the recent Symposium on Health Policy and Systems Research, which was attended by more than 2 000 delegates from over 100 countries. The symposium closed with the issuing of the Vancouver Statement, which was read by the Chair of Health Systems Global, Dr Kabir Sheikh. The Statement identified several key actions that need to be taken by researchers, donors and policy-makers. The specific actions relevant for the Alliance focused broadly on the following 2 areas:
Unleashing the power of embedded research for resilient health systems
To be effective, efforts to build strong, resilient health systems must be based on evidence. In doing so, the research community needs to more effectively partner with decision-makers to embed research within policy-making processes and practice.
Facilitating researcher and policy maker dialogues
To build a culture of evidence-informed health policies, opportunities for researchers and policymakers to collaborate should be created, such as through hosting roundtables and other mechanisms for policy dialogue.
The establishment of the Policy Leadership Group at the Symposium is evidence of the Alliance's commitment to strengthen the collaboration between policymakers and researchers.
