By Isabella Njeri
The Kenyan Ministry of Health (MOH) staff have joined the list of African policymakers trained on evidence-based decision-making and gender inclusion in the policy-making process to improve health outcomes and promote equitable development.
The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) and partners have trained the MOH staff in Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda on informed decision-making and gender mainstreaming in policy formulation, with the latest beneficiaries being the Kenyan counterparts.
The training empowers the trainees with invaluable skills and knowledge to navigate the complexities of evidence synthesis and application in policy-making, ensuring that decisions are grounded in robust, relevant, and timely data, ultimately leading to more effective and impactful health policies.
Although evidence-informed decision-making is widely recognized as a key factor in improving policy outcomes, challenges persist in effectively translating evidence into policy actions. The barriers include insufficient relationships between policymakers and evidence producers, lack of gender and social inclusion data, untimely and irrelevant evidence, and limited evidence synthesis and application capacity.
Speaking during the training of Kenyan MOH staff in Machakos County, Dr Violet Murunga, Research and Policy Analyst at AFIDEP observed that the training equips policymakers with skills to systematically identify, appraise, synthesize, and adapt relevant evidence, including gender and social inclusion data, into the policy-making process.
“The training will also enhance capacity for rapid evidence reviews, enabling timely and relevant policy decisions and foster collaboration and knowledge exchange at national, sub-national, and regional levels,” Dr Murunga noted.
Central to the training program is enhancing skills for rapid evidence review, enabling timely and relevant policy decisions and fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange at national, sub-national, and regional levels.
“AFIDEP aims to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through improved health outcomes and equitable development and thus views the critical role MOH plays in this,” he noted.
