Mission
Billions of dollars are spent each year on disaster relief and humanitarian aid, with the intention of reducing the impact of these events and improving the lives of those affected. Unfortunately some interventions are useless, or even harmful. Others are suboptimal, which wastes resources and impedes the delivery of superior interventions. It is exceedingly difficult for governments, aid agencies, charity workers, and doctors and nurses to discover what works amidst the chaos and urgency of a crisis. They are faced with a deluge of fragmented information, scattered among tens of thousands of reports spread across thousands of journals, books and websites. Responders often do not have the time or skills to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information.
Evidence Aid seeks to overcome these problems, making it easier for responders to make informed decisions by providing timely access to high-quality, unbiased research.
Evidence Aid seeks to overcome these problems, making it easier for responders to make informed decisions by providing timely access to high-quality, unbiased research.
implementation
Evidence Aid intends to work with many partners to prioritise and provide evidence for disaster resilience and risk reduction, planning, response and recovery. Our shared goal is to reduce the health impact of disasters and other humanitarian emergencies and speed recovery for people and communities.
Our core objectives are to identify existing systematic reviews of research, conduct new systematic reviews in priority areas and make all these reviews accessible in an online and downloadable database. Systematic reviews are independent summaries of the best available evidence, rigorous in minimising bias and avoiding undue emphasis on individual studies, and more convenient for users by providing a single source of relevant information. They can be combined with local knowledge and resources to guide evidence-informed decision-making. The importance of systematic reviews is recognised by many disciplines; the challenge at hand is to conduct the right reviews for the humanitarian aid sector and to get their findings into practice.
Our core objectives are to identify existing systematic reviews of research, conduct new systematic reviews in priority areas and make all these reviews accessible in an online and downloadable database. Systematic reviews are independent summaries of the best available evidence, rigorous in minimising bias and avoiding undue emphasis on individual studies, and more convenient for users by providing a single source of relevant information. They can be combined with local knowledge and resources to guide evidence-informed decision-making. The importance of systematic reviews is recognised by many disciplines; the challenge at hand is to conduct the right reviews for the humanitarian aid sector and to get their findings into practice.
Vision
The success of Evidence Aid so far has been built on very limited resources. We currently have just two part-time staff and rely heavily on volunteers and goodwill. Driving Evidence Aid further will require additional resources and personnel to facilitate and gather relevant research and develop a dynamic website and mobile technology to disseminate it. This will also allow us to further engage with people who need the evidence, researchers who do the studies, and others who can package and deliver the information in the best way possible. Evidence Aid has built strong networks and has international recognition and now needs to scale up to meet the demands of a world where disasters are becoming more common and more devastating. To that end, we will:
a) Make evidence more accessible by developing a new website and search interface that will include features to address the challenges of working in a disaster setting with limited resources and across various languages. Evidence Aid resources will be provided to people working in the field and to key decision-makers before, during, and after humanitarian emergencies.
b) Make the evidence more relevant by providing synthesized information that is actionable in an emergency context. Evidence Aid has already conducted a needs assessment among dozens of humanitarian agencies to identify the key priority areas for reviews.
In routine health and social care, evidence-informed knowledge might now be regarded as the most potent ‘medicine’ for promoting wellbeing and improving health outcomes. Evidence Aid will do the same for disasters and humanitarian emergencies.
To find out more, visit www.EvidenceAid.org or contact Claire Allen at [email protected].
a) Make evidence more accessible by developing a new website and search interface that will include features to address the challenges of working in a disaster setting with limited resources and across various languages. Evidence Aid resources will be provided to people working in the field and to key decision-makers before, during, and after humanitarian emergencies.
b) Make the evidence more relevant by providing synthesized information that is actionable in an emergency context. Evidence Aid has already conducted a needs assessment among dozens of humanitarian agencies to identify the key priority areas for reviews.
In routine health and social care, evidence-informed knowledge might now be regarded as the most potent ‘medicine’ for promoting wellbeing and improving health outcomes. Evidence Aid will do the same for disasters and humanitarian emergencies.
To find out more, visit www.EvidenceAid.org or contact Claire Allen at [email protected].