Today sees the launch of a new secretariat at the American University of Beirut for the Global Evidence Synthesis Initiative (GESI), an international consortium established to enhance the capacity for research synthesis worldwide.
GESI is made up of leading international organizations in evidence synthesis including Cochrane, the Campbell Collaboration, the EPPI-Centre, 3ie, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, housed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Joanna Briggs Institute.
The goal of the GESI Consortium is to increase the capacity to undertake research syntheses by establishing and supporting an initial ten Centres for Research Synthesis in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
Simon Lewin, Joint Coordinating Editor for the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group and a Senior Researcher in the Global Health Unit at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said ‘There is a critical need to strengthen capacity to produce and disseminate policy-relevant systematic reviews in low and middle income countries. GESI will play a very important role in these efforts and help to ensure that policies in these settings are informed by the best available global evidence.’
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