Evidence-informed health policy: are we beginning to get there at last?

The long-term challenge of increasing research use in health policymaking Increasing the extent to which health policies are informed by health research has long been the hope, and indeed sometimes the expectation, of those reforming health research systems. Now though, there are grounds for believing that the hopes are increasingly beginning to be turned into realities. This optimism is based on a range of factors including: the growing understanding by researchers of the benefits of adopting a collaborative approach with policymakers in setting research agendas; the expansion of the pool of knowledge relevant for policymaking; the generation of capacity to conduct systematic reviews of that evidence; and the growing attention being given to the policymaking structures necessary to absorb and use research evidence. Health Research Policy and Systems (HARPS) has just published a supplement that draws together, and builds on, a very wide range of recent developments in this important field. Called SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP), the supplement consists of a series of guides with an introduction setting out its scope and purpose [1]. Here we provide a brief analysis of why we think it is so appropriate to launch such an initiative at this time.