Background: Evidence-informed health policy making is an approach to policy decisions that is intended to ensure that decision making is well-informed by the best-available research evidence. This creates a need for an approach that links knowledge production to knowledge translation. The Center for Systematic Reviews of Health Policy and Systems Research (SPARK) and the Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center were established at the American University of Beirut to promote evidence-informed health policies and action.

Objectives:The objective of this presentation is to reflect on the experiences of the two Centers and the lessons learned from promoting evidence-informed health policy making and action.

Methods: SPARK and K2P Centers have formed a unique collaboration to achieve the goal of impacting health policies. Whereas SPARK Center focuses on knowledge production, K2P Center focuses on knowledge translation and impact. The Centers follow an integrated approach that encompasses the following phases: 1) generation of research priority; 2) evidence synthesis; 3) knowledge translation; 4) knowledge uptake; and, 5) impact. The approach was applied to several case studies which led to health policy impact.

Results: In this presentation, we will reflect on our experiences in addressing diverse sets of topics, and the challenges and lessons learned from promoting evidence-informed health policies and action at the national and the Eastern Mediterranean Region levels. These include (but are not limited to) effective policy maker-researcher interactions; knowledge co-production; utilisation of different knowledge-translation tools and mechanisms at different levels of the decision-making process; institutionalisation efforts; and, provision of rapid-response services.

Conclusions:The model adopted by the Centers could be replicated in other contexts to help promote evidence-informed health policy making. The experiences and lessons learned could inform other groups, platforms, and networks including the Global Evidence Synthesis Initiative (GESI) Network to strengthen the application of an integrated and impactful knowledge-translation approach.