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2013 Symposium "Public Health: Evidence Based Public Health"

Date 23 Mar 2013


An international perspective on barriers and opportunities was held on March 23, 2013 in the main auditorium of surgery department, Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU), Munich, Germany. The symposium was organized by CIHLMU in collaboration with the German Network for Evidence-based Medicine and Public Health (DNEbM Public Health). The objective of the symposium was to review approaches to evidence-based public health (EBPH) in different countries, including operational challenges and opportunities.

Andreas Kudom from CIHLMU opened the symposium and in his opening remarks expressed the need for evidence based approaches for both medical and public health interventions, particularly due to high cost of health care. Six speakers from Germany, UK, Australia and South Africa presented on different aspects of evidence based public health.

Overview of evidence based public health (EBPH) was presented by Dr. Eva Rehfuess from the Institute for Biometry and Epidemiology, LMU. The basic concepts of EBPH and example of EBPH from household air pollution in developing countries were presented. Prof. Mike Kelly from Center of Public Health Excellence, NICE, London presented Evidence-based public health from the UK perspective specifically the NICE experience and methodological principles governing NICE works on Evidence-based public health. For German perspective, Dr. Thomas Harder from the Robert-Koch-Institute, Berlin, presented the work of STIKO. He emphasizes the importance of immunization in public health but stressed the need for standardized and evidence-based evaluation using a modern and transparent methodology. In presenting the South African perspective on barriers and opportunities of EBPH, Dr. Charles Wiysonge from the University of Cape Town, opined that among various challenges in linking evidence to action, there is limited evidence in Africa in the context of research.

Dr. Rebecca Armstrong from Cochrane public health group, Melbourne, presented evidence informed public health (EIPH) versus EBPH. Finally, translation from evidence to policy experience on the concept of public health necessity, the difference among policy, politics and polity and different proposals and strategies for translating evidence to policy was presented by Prof. Manfred Wildner from Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority.

Dr. Lucas Maganga closed the symposium and re-echoed the importance of EBPH in public health interventions. More than eighty participants from Africa, Asia, Europe and USA attended the symposium.


Organizing Committee: Andreas A. Kudom, Eshetu Kidane, Kenneth L. Navti, Rajani Shah and Lucas Maganga (PhD students of CIHLMU ).