Decision makers are sometimes faced with issues that need responses within hours or days. In these circumstances, a policy brief may not be needed, or preparing a policy brief may not be possible. Nonetheless, to ensure that their responses are well-informed, decision makers need rapid access to research evidence that has been both appraised and contextualised. The skills needed to do this are similar to those needed during the preparation of policy briefs. These include being able to clarify the question being asked, finding relevant research (ideally a systematic review), and being able to reliably summarise and communicate the research.
A set of
resources for
preparing rapid responses to policymakers in need of
research evidence are included in the ‘Additional
resources’ section. These resources include a
template for rapid responses, as well as examples (one
on Obstetric Fistula Repair and another on
WHO guidelines for infant feeding in the context of HIV)
for: