Evidence Use in Health Policy Making

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Studying Evidence Use for Health Policymaking from a Policy Perspective

   • Justin Parkhurst, Stefanie Ettelt, Benjamin Hawkins

   Pages 1-19Open Access

   PDF

3. The Many Meanings of Evidence: A Comparative Analysis of the Forms and Roles of Evidence Within Three Health Policy Processes in Cambodia

   • Helen Walls, Marco Liverani, Kannarath Chheng, Justin Parkhurst

   Pages 21-49Open Access

   PDF

4. The Role of Evidence in Nutrition Policymaking in Ethiopia: Institutional Structures and Issue Framing

   • Helen Walls, Deborah Johnston, Elisa Vecchione, Abdulfatah Adam, Justin Parkhurst

   Pages 51-73Open Access

   PDF

5. The Use of Evidence in Health Policy in Ghana: Implications for Accountability and Democratic Governance

   • Elisa Vecchione, Justin Parkhurst

   Pages 75-90Open Access

   PDF

6. Using Evidence in a Highly Fragmented Legislature: The Case of Colombia’s Health System Reform

   • Arturo Alvarez-Rosete, Benjamin Hawkins

   Pages 91-110Open Access

   PDF

7. The Politics of Evidence Use in Health Policy Making in Germany: The Case of Regulating Hospital Minimum Volumes

   • Stefanie Ettelt

   Pages 111-135Open Access

   PDF

8. Electronic Cigarettes Regulation in the UK: A Case Study in Evidence Informed Policy Making

   • Benjamin Hawkins

   Pages 137-153Open Access

   PDF

9. Ministries of Health and the Stewardship of Health Evidence

   • Justin Parkhurst, Arturo Alvarez-Rosete, Stefanie Ettelt, Benjamin Hawkins, Marco Liverani, Elisa Vecchione et al.

   Pages 155-184Open Access

   PDF

10. Evidence Use and the Institutions of the State: The Role of Parliament and the Judiciary

    • Stefanie Ettelt

    Pages 185-199Open Access

    PDF

11. Evidence and Policy in Aid-Dependent Settings

    • Justin Parkhurst, Siobhan Leir, Helen Walls, Elisa Vecchione, Marco Liverani

    Pages 201-219Open Access

    PDF

12. Conclusion: Reflecting on Studying Evidence Use from a Public Policy Perspective

    • Justin Parkhurst, Benjamin Hawkins, Stefanie Ettelt

    Pages 221-238Open Access

    PDF

13. Back Matter

    Pages 239-245

    PDF

This open access book provides a set of conceptual, empirical, and comparative chapters that apply a public policy perspective to investigate the political and institutional factors driving the use of evidence to inform health policy in low, middle, and high income settings. The work presents key findings from the Getting Research Into Policy (GRIP-Health) project: a five year, six country, programme of work supported by the European Research Council. The chapters further our understanding of evidence utilisation in health policymaking through the application of theories and methods from the policy sciences. They present new insights into the roles and importance of factors such as issue contestation, institutional arrangements, logics of appropriateness, and donor influence to explore individual cases and comparative experiences in the use of evidence to inform health policy. 

• evidence based policymaking
• political contestation
• institutional context
• rational-instrumental evidence use
• Cambodia
• framing
• multi-sectoral
• Ethiopia
• stakeholders' involvement
• governance
• legitimacy
• institutionalised evidentiary practices
• evidence advisory system
• accountability systems
• democratic governance
• international donors
• World Health Organization
• Parliament
• aid relationships
• Open Access

“The book is designed for healthcare professionals as well as an audience interested in healthcare models. It is also helpful for students taking courses in health administration and health policy. … The case study approach and the detailed information in each chapter make the book extremely interesting and challenging for readers.” (Marina Celly M R Souza, Doody's Book Reviews, March, 2019)​

• London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

  Justin Parkhurst

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

  Stefanie Ettelt, Benjamin Hawkins

Justin Parkhurst is Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (the LSE)’s Department of Health Policy, UK. He has conducted research on a range of global health policy issues and on the politics of evidence. He served as the Principal Investigator of the GRIP-Health programme of work.


Benjamin Hawkins is Associate Professor at the Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. His research focuses on the role of research evidence and corporate actors in health policy making. In addition, he works on European integration, multi-level governance international trade and political economy approaches to health policy.


Stefanie Ettelt is Associate Professor at the Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Her work examines the tensions between structure and agency in explaining the influence of evidence and research on policy-making and health system governance, particularly from a comparative perspective.

Policies and ethics