Evidence Aid: A resource for those preparing for and responding to natural disasters, humanitarian

crises and major healthcare emergencies

Claire Allen 20 June 2013

Who are we?

Claire AllenKnowledge Manager

Oxford, UK

Mike ClarkeProject Lead

Dublin, Ireland Belfast, UK

Bonnix KayabuCo-ordinator

Dublin, Ireland

We make up the equivalent of 1.5 full-time staff

Evidence Aid - why established?

• Established after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004.

• Like minded group of individuals in The Cochrane Collaboration formed an advisory group to establish how Cochrane Reviews could help people during a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Evidence Aid - aims

• Use knowledge from Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews to provide reliable, up-to-date evidence on interventions that might be considered in the context of natural disasters and other major healthcare emergencies.

• Highlight which interventions work, which don’t work, which need more research, and which, no matter how well meaning, might be harmful.

• Provide information to agencies and people preparing for, or responding to, disasters.

Progress 2004 - 2010

• Between 2004 and 2010, no funding for Evidence Aid was available.

• In 2010, funding was sought from, among others, The Cochrane Collaboration, John Wiley and Sons Ltd and McCall McBain.

• Late 2010, the Evidence Aid Co-ordinator appointed to carry out a Needs Assessment.

Progress 2010 – 2011• Needs Assessment survey showed that there

was no equivalent to Evidence Aid.• Knowledge Manager appointed.• Preliminary results published from the needs

assessment survey.• 1st Evidence Aid conference held.

Progress 2012 - ...

• Over100 people have completed the Needs Assessment Survey.

• A web-based database will be built to include all the evidence.

• 2nd Evidence Aid conference held October2012, hosted by the International Red Cross, Brussels.

Special Collections

• Resources for Earthquakes.• Resources for Flooding and Poor Water

Sanitation.• Resources for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.• Resources for Burns.

• More than 100 Cochrane Reviews free at the point of use.

Special Collections – Earthquake example

Developing the database• In partnership with John Wiley and Sons

(hosting and development of the database).• Mobile applications.• Multi-lingual.• User testing• Your input and feedback is needed.

Moving resources to the database• Searchable resources.• Additional information including:

- Evidence summaries.- Contextual summaries.- Podcasts.

• Systematic reviews from outside of health care but with health care outcomes (e.g. engineering, shelter, water and sanitation).

Our current website

What the database will look like

Resources page

Background to needs assessment survey

• The Cochrane Collaboration commissioned an evaluation of Evidence Aid in 2008/9.

• 19 people from different organisations involved resulting in the following:– Need for research evidence to help people to

make evidence-based decisions. – Need to involve more people in the discussions to

ensure robust data and to identify what it is that people want during a disaster or crisis.

Purpose of needs assessment survey

• To identify attitudes towards systematic reviews and research in general of those people involved in humanitarian responses, disasters and other crises.

• To identify priorities for evidence.• To identify preferences for ways to access the

information.

Priority setting

• Priority setting meeting held June 2013.• 10 themes, 3 questions under each theme –

individual / population / setting.• James Lind Alliance model – consensus.• Involving aid agencies, funders, NGOs and

academics.• Result: list of 30 questions to be answered by

systematic review format.

Priority setting (2)

• Of 50 questions in the needs assessment survey, three questions were specifically related to systematic reviews and priority setting were asked:

• In order of decreasing importance what would be your three (or more) priority topics for which you would like evidence in the context of natural disasters or other humanitarian crises? (Question 2.16)

• List any topics for which research evidence would help when making a decision about funding a project (Question 3.16)

• List any topics for which research evidence would help when analysing the reports you receive from recipient agencies (Question 3.17)

Priority setting (3)Top ten themes• The top 10 themes were ranked by 233 respondents to the online survey. 1) Water and sanitation2) Disaster preparedness3) Disaster response4) Nutrition and food security5) Maternal and child health6) Co-ordination of humanitarian relief7) Quality of data/ assessment tools/evaluation/impact (Note: Population

data could be used to summarize this theme.)8) Shelter9) Disaster recovery10) Mental health

Survey participants

• Participants of the survey worked for a variety of organizations including international aid agencies, national aid agencies, United Nations agencies, research centres, and individuals working independently on issues related to disasters.

• Geographic area: 117 were based in a European country, 45 in the United States of America, 21 in Asia, 19 in Africa, 12 in the Middle East, 8 in Canada, 7 in South America, and 4 in Australia and New Zealand. More demographic information will be published, hopefully in PLOS Currents: Disasters

Results of prioritization exercise

• Consensus was drawn from the group and showed that a diverse group could reach agreement.

• 30 questions were agreed on.• Next steps: Publish a short methodology

paper alongside the 30 questions.• Find volunteers to undertake the systematic

reviews that were identified as priorities.

The technology, resources, partnerships and knowledge are all coming into place

for Evidence Aid. The time has come to ensure that those

making decisions about services and interventions following natural disasters

have access to the most reliable evidence for those choices.

Conclusion

Thank you for listening!

Contact us using:Website: www.evidenceaid.org

Twitter: @evidence AidFacebook: Evidence Aid

E-mail: callen@evidenceaid.org