14.I. Workshop: Strengthening the impact of national health information systems in policy and practice
Authors:   Organised by: InfAct,   Chair persons: Herman Van Oyen - Belgium, Thomas Ziese - Germany
Published: October 2020

Health information (HI) includes data on population health, on health determinants, health care systems, and health-relevant policy developments. Duly prioritised HI is essential to inform decision-makers, researchers and the public. However, getting evidence into the hands of key stakeholders is still a challenge in many European countries. Depending on the respective target groups: decision-makers, clinical care providers, allied health professionals, health advocates and patients, various challenges arise for leveraging this data for intervention.

While public health agencies aim to improve health for all, building bridges across stakeholder groups for a more efficient implementation of evidence-based recommendations requires concerted efforts and exchange of best practices and innovations in HI. This workshop aims to provide delegates with a clear understanding of the strategies that can strengthen the impact of national health information systems (HIS) in policy and practice.

Within InfAct, the EU Joint Action on Health Information (InfAct), EU-Member States have taken significant steps towards building such an integrated infrastructure to advance the use of HI for analysis, decision-making and intervention. Five case examples of this consortium will be presented. The objectives are two-fold: 1) to provide delegates with an overview of the latest developments in public health reporting and monitoring across European countries, and 2) to present solutions that focus on strengthening the impact of national HIS in policy and practice.

The workshop will begin with an introduction to national strategies that have been implemented across Europe to identify and prioritise HI needs; good practice recommendations for public health reporting will also be provided. At EU level, the 88 European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) have been widely adopted to provide a 'snapshot' of European public health (including care), and we will explore the future of the ECHI list in guiding decision-makers. There is also increasing interest on how to facilitate the uptake of evidence in the health system but also across sectors; this relies on taking into account the broader socio-political context and envisioning new partnerships with civil society and non-state actors. Therefore, our workshop will explore the latest developments in monitoring knowledge integration into national policies and civil society.

Dialogue on what can be done, and what is needed for better knowledge management will be fueled by an interactive voting poll during the session. The Mentimeter poll will prompt the audience to share, in real time, their perspectives and expectations for HI production, dissemination and use across countries. For example, on the role of health literacy in facilitating the implementation of evidence-based recommendations. The delegates will take the perspective of the public, the public health researcher and the health policy maker in this.

Key messages

Mapping health information (HI) priorities and reporting approaches across countries facilitates the exchange of best practices in the context of building a sustainable EU Health Information system. The future EU distributed research infrastructure on population health (DIPoH) may hold a key role in informing national and EU-level interventions in health policy and practice.