Dear all,

I hope this message finds you well despite the continued turbulent times.

I am reaching out to you today to, first and foremost, thank you all for the great journey that we embarked on together throughout the last few years in making EVIPNet Europe a real motor of promoting evidence-informed policy-making throughout the Region.

It has been an enormous pleasure to get to know you, work with you, learn and exchange with you, and jointly push for the increased use of evidence in decision-making. As many of you know, I have relocated this summer to WHO Headquarters to lead the Evidence to Policy and Impact work there. While at Headquarters, I remain part of the wider EVIPNet family, and it is with great pride that I will take the many experiences, good practices, success stories and lessons learned from the WHO Regional Office to the global level.

Most of you have gotten to know Marge Reinap (in cc) already who joined the Regional Office of Europe in January this year to lead the EVIPNet Europe work. Before moving to the regional level, Marge worked for many years as the Head of Country Office Estonia and was already at the time – as you will likely recall - a true EVIPNet Europe champion. I know that the network is in very good hands with her and that EVIPNet Europe – in collaboration with you all - will continue to flourish and grow!

In terms of a first virtual EVIPNet activity at global level, we will commence organizing short weekly COVID-19 focused webinars, starting this Friday, 9 October, from 2:00-2:30 p.m. (CEST). These webinars are meant to provide an online space and platform for you to:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

• learn how to access the best available, up-to-date evidence on COVID-19;
• obtain hands-on support and guidance with searching for and contextualising global COVID-19 evidence syntheses to address high-priority issues that EVIPNet members are dealing with;
• get to know pragmatic tricks and tips on how to rapidly respond to policy-makers’ demand for high-quality COVID-19 evidence;
• discuss and exchange lessons learnt.

For registration, an email needs to be sent to EVIPNet@who.int. More information can be found in attached flyer.

Hope to see many of you online soon. Please stay in touch & stay safe!

Kind regards,

Tanja

Tanja Kuchenmüller

Unit Head, Evidence to Policy and Impact

Research for Health  - Science Division

World Health Organization

Tel: +41 22 791 4565