The opening Plenary Session of the 2019 Cochrane Colloquium will discuss the importance of health equity, which is part of Cochrane’s new content strategy for reviews. In line with the Colloquium’s theme of “Embracing Diversity”, this Plenary session will bring together three experts’ views on the imperative for evidence on equity.

Dr. Jeanette Vega from Chile will emphasize the need for data on health equity to inform decisions about health programs and policies across the social determinants of health. She brings her perspective as former vice-minister of health in Chile and former director of the equity in health agenda at the WHO.

Dr. Peter Tugwell, co-convenor of the Campbell and Cochrane Equity Methods Group, University of Ottawa, will describe the extent to which Cochrane reviews assess health equity considerations, the development and use of methods to assess health equity in Cochrane reviews and the new Cochrane equity content strategy.

Dr. Beibei Yuan, from the Peking University Health Science Centre, China Centre for Health Development Studies, will reflect on the assessment of effects on health equity in her systematic reviews on health systems, including coverage of health insurance for vulnerable populations, and her experience as a member of the WHO Alliance Evidence Synthesis Centre in China.

Session co-chairs will be Dr. Lawrence Mbuagbaw and Dr. Tamara Lotfi.

To learn more about this and other Plenary Sessions during the Colloquium, visit: https://colloquium2019.cochrane.org/plenary-session-overview

To learn more about the Colloquium theme, “Embracing diversity”, visit: https://colloquium2019.cochrane.org/embracing-diversity