Building the evidence base: from tool development to agenda-setting and defining a joint programme for health promotion in Europe

Abstract

promotion programmes has to explore similar questions around the kinds of information available, what evidencebased interventions exist and what is the best way to implement them. Policy makers and management also demand transparency, accountability and costeffectiveness, so there is an urgent requirement for good quality evidence of health promotion effectiveness. Many health promotion and public health agencies in Europe and elsewhere are actively in the business of getting evidence into practice and also evidence out of practice (see Speller et al in this special edition for examples drawn from England, Scotland and Holland). Internationally, there is a growing interest in working collaboratively to avoid duplication of effort and to exchange ideas and methods (see Mittelmark et al in the Capacity building section of this journal for tangible examples of collaborative action already in place). Cooperative or multi agency action such as those outlined by Mittelmark et al are important because collecting and defining knowledge and a body of evidence is complex. Gerard R. M. Molleman and Jan G. M. Bouwens