SRN
THE SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS NETWORK (SRN)
Evidence-informed decision-making is essential for effective policies in health, education, agriculture, and development. EIDM guides policies that lead to cost-effective solutions, improved resource allocation, and transformative outcomes. Evidence-based interventions, particularly those guided by systematic reviews, have drastically reduced mortality, combated diseases, and improved healthcare access. For instance, the adoption of magnesium sulfate for preeclampsia reduced maternal deaths by 50%, while insecticide-treated bed nets cut child mortality by 20% in sub-Saharan Africa. The underrepresentation of low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) data in global systematic reviews – less than 3% of global reviews include data from LMICs-creates a significant imbalance in decision-making.
Policies based on non-contextualized evidence often fail to address the unique social, economic, and health challenges in LMICs, leading to ineffective or irrelevant interventions. For instance, tuberculosis control programs designed for urban, high-income settings were ineffective in rural African contexts. Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of Africa-specific reviews led to interventions like lockdowns, which disproportionately harmed livelihoods in low-income settings. Evidence synthesis such as systematic reviews offer a pathway to scalable, cost-effective solutions for policymakers, saving lives, improving livelihoods, and strengthening national economies. Despite this, the capacity for producing and using systematic reviews in LMICs remains underdeveloped.
The Systematic Reviews Network, formerly called the African Community for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (ACSRM), is a registered charity established in 2022 with a vision to bridge evidence gaps in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and transform lives by guiding decisions with robust, context-specific evidence.
OUR VISION:
To bridge evidence gaps in LMICs and transform lives by guiding decisions with robust, context-specific evidence.
OUR MISSION:
1. To empower researchers from the academia and research institutions especially early career researchers with knowledge, skills, tools, and resources needed to successfully conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
2. To empower systematic review users (scientists, government agencies, expert panels, patients, policy-makers, health-care advocates) with the knowledge and skills needed to critique, understand, interpret and use systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
3. To cooperate and work with partners, stakeholders, research institutions, and academic institutions to promote and improve the use and production of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
OUR CORE VALUES:
1. Passion: We have a sense of enthusiasm for our work and for the people around us.
2. Teamwork: We operate on the principle of teamwork because we believe people are capable of building something bigger than themselves when they unite.
3. Integrity: Everyone who represents our hub is committed to acting in a way that is consistent with our values.
4. Accountability: We accept responsibility for our actions (and inactions) because it is the best way to build trust internally and externally.
5. Quality: We uphold the highest standards because we understand that, how well an organization crafts its goods and services determines how successful it is.
6. Diversity and Inclusion: We prosper by integrating a variety of backgrounds and experiences into a setting where everyone has an equal opportunity
7. Collaboration: We understand the importance of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in shaping practice in the global community; thus, we work with different stakeholders in promoting systematic reviews production and use in LMICs.
8. Equity: We are determined to promote fairness in all that we do, and at all times.
LEADERSHIP
SRN is led by:
-Fortune B. Effiong (Executive Director)
-DINE Roseline Dzekem (Deputy Executive Director)
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