Using and abusing evidence in science and health policy

This series of articles looks at how evidence is used in a variety of health and science policy domains. Emphasis is put on the ways in which it is has been used (or misused) and represented (or misrepresented) in relevant laws, policies and regulations, in addition to the numerous challenges and barriers to its use in policy development.

The European health report 2012: charting the way to well-being

This report is WHO/Europe's flagship publication, issued every three years and reveals unequal improvements in health in Europe and calls for measurement of well-being as marker of progress. While the overall level of health across the WHO European Region has clearly improved, European health statistics show inequities within and between countries.

The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy

This report provides an overview of the reasons why the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) is an essential tool for evidence-based health policymaking and summarizes the main findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010). GBD 2010 presents comparative metrics for 291 different causes of premature death and disability across 187 countries, 20 age groups, and both sexes for three time periods: 1990, 2005, and 2010.