28 October, 2015 by Buwembo David in Health News

The Regional East African Community Health-Policy Initiative (REACH) is an institutional mechanism or “knowledge broker” designed to link health researchers with policy-makers and other vital research-users. It connects these constituencies through shared and dynamic platforms that support, stimulate and harmonize evidence-based and -informed policymaking processes in East Africa. While the need to bridge the realms of health research, policy and practice has been long recognized, never before has there been such a large-scale, systematic attempt to apply the idea of knowledge brokerage. REACH was established within the East African Health Research Commission, an organ of the East African Community to bridge the gap between evidence and health policy and practice. Although REACH was not operational until 2007, it had been under development since 2001 and built on the experience of the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP). EVIPNet has since built on the experience of REACH and has been assisted by REACH in its establishment in both Asia and Africa. The two initiatives have worked collaboratively since 2005. Although similar initiatives are emerging in other countries, these initiatives are unique with respect to their focus on supporting governments in low and middle income countries to use research evidence for health policy decisions.