The scope of the Norwegian satellite of the EPOC group is to undertake systematic reviews of educational, behavioural, financial, regulatory and organisational interventions designed to improve health professional practice and the organisation of health care services with a focus on health systems questions relevant to LMIC.
Objectives of the satellite:
- Provide support and training for LMIC to undertake and update relevant EPOC reviews and to access and use the results of EPOC reviews
- Provide support and training for WHO and other international organisations to undertake and update relevant EPOC reviews and to access and use the results of EPOC reviews that are relevant to LMIC
- Provide support and training for Norway and the Nordic countries to undertake and update relevant EPOC reviews and to access and use the results of EPOC reviews
- Expand and help ensure the sustainability of EPOC’s editorial capacity with a particular focus on LMIC and the Nordic countries
The satellite has established collaboration with organisations including:
- Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (www.norad.no)
- World Health Organization (www.who.int)
- Alliance for Health Systems & Policy Research (www.who.int/alliance-hpsr)
- SUPPORT Collaboration (www.support-collaboration.org)
- EVIPNet (www.who.int/rpc/evipnet/en/)
- Centre for prevention of Global Infections (GLOBINF) (www.med.uio.no/forskning/tematisk/globinf/)
Recent activities
The satellite has worked together with the SUPPORT Collaboration to produce summaries of systematic reviews relevant to health systems questions in LMIC. Seventy systematic reviews have been selected for which summaries are being prepared. Completed summaries are available on-line (www.support-collaboration.org) and will be disseminated widely using a variety of strategies.
Twenty of these summaries were recently published as part of an overview in The Lancet summarising the evidence from systematic reviews of health systems arrangements and implementation strategies, with a particular focus on evidence relevant to primary health care in low-resource settings. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608614038/abstract
LMIC database
In a collaborative effort by Cochrane Groups, the WHO Library and volunteers outside the Cochrane collaboration, a collection of databases, web sites and journals relevant to Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) are being put together for systematic review authors. We aim at updating the list regularly.