ArticleHealth research policy and systems2015
Role and use of evidence in policymaking: an analysis of case studies from the health sector in Nigeria.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Analysis and evolution of health policies in Iran through policy triangle framework during the last thirty years: a systematic review of the historical period from 1994 to 2021.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2023Pooled it
- Health economics in Africa: historical perspectives, current challenges, and policy recommendations for sustainable healthcare financing and resource allocation.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2026Review
- Article
- Assessing institutional capacities to demand and use nutrition data for decision-making in Nigeria's health sector: A mixed-methods study.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- "Since I never felt pain, it didn't occur to me to visit a dental clinic": a qualitative exploration of social perceptions and influencers of oral care-seeking behaviour among adult Nigerians.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Assessing the antenatal care-seeking determinants associated with the penetration of the WHO eight-visit antenatal care policy across states in Nigeria.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- A health technology assessment of COVID-19 vaccination for Nigerian decision-makers: Identifying stakeholders and pathways to support evidence uptake.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- What is context in knowledge translation? Results of a systematic scoping review.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- Point-of-care testing in private pharmacy and drug retail settings: a narrative review.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Review
- Institutional roles, structures, funding and research partnerships towards evidence-informed policy-making: a multisector survey among policy-makers in Nigeria.Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
- Applying behaviour change models to policy-making: development and validation of the Policymakers' Information Use Questionnaire (POLIQ).Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
- Role and use of evidence in health system response to COVID-19 in Nigeria: a mixed method study.The Pan African medical journal · 2023Review
- How does explicit knowledge inform policy shaping? The case of Burkina Faso's national social protection policy.PloS one · 2023Article
- How and why pharmaceutical reforms contribute to universal health coverage through improving equitable access to medicines: a case of Ghana.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Article
- The experience of a regional network of health policy and systems actors in translating evidence into policy and action in West Africa.Ghana medical journal · 2022Article
- Assessing the scalability of a health management-strengthening intervention at the district level: a qualitative study in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- A knowledge implementation model in health system management based on the PARIHS model.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Health workforce policy and plan implementation in the context of universal health coverage in the Africa Region.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Public Compliance Matters in Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: Evidence from Evaluating Social Distancing in the First Wave of COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth policymaking is a complex process and analysing the role of evidence is still an evolving area in many low- and middle-income countries. Where evidence is used, it is greatly affected by cognitive and institutional features of the policy process. This paper examines the role of different types of evidence in health policy development in Nigeria.
methodsThe role of evidence was compared between three case studies representing different health policies, namely the (1) integrated maternal neonatal and child health strategy (IMNCH); (2) oral health (OH) policy; and (3) human resource for health (HRH) policy. The data was collected using document reviews and 31 in-depth interviews with key policy actors. Framework Approach was used to analyse the data, aided by NVivo 10 software.
resultsMost respondents perceived evidence to be factual and concrete to support a decision. Evidence was used more if it was perceived to be context-specific, accessible and timely. Low-cost high-impact evidence, such as the Lancet series, was reported to have been used in drafting the IMNCH policy. In the OH and HRH policies, informal evidence such as experts' experiences and opinions, were reported to have been useful in the policy drafting stage. Both formal and informal evidence were mentioned in the HRH and OH policies, while the development of the IMNCH was revealed to have been informed mainly by more formal evidence. Overall, respondents suggested that formal evidence, such as survey reports and research publications, were most useful in the agenda-setting stage to identify the need for the policy and thus initiating the policy development process. International and local evidence were used to establish the need for a policy and develop policy, and less to develop policy implementation options.
conclusionRecognition of the value of different evidence types, combined with structures for generating and using evidence, are likely to enhance evidence-informed health policy development in Nigeria and other similar contexts.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.