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. 2025 May;30(19):2400185.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.19.2400185.

Frameworks to support evidence-informed decision-making in public health and infectious disease prevention and control: a scoping review

Yang Song  1   2 , Javier Bracchiglione  3   4   5   1 , Jose F Meneses-Echávez  6   7 , Helena de Carvalho Gomes  8 , Barbara Albiger  8 , Ivan Solà  3   5   1 , David Rigau  5   1 , Pablo Alonso-Coello  3   5   1
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Frameworks to support evidence-informed decision-making in public health and infectious disease prevention and control: a scoping review

Yang Song et al. Euro Surveill. 2025 May.

Abstract

BackgroundEvidence-informed public health decision-making (EIDM) is a complex process that must consider multiple factors.AimWe aimed to identify and describe existing frameworks supporting evidence-informed public health decision-making and their application to infectious disease.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review to describe current EIDM framework use in public health. We included decision-making frameworks in public health and examples of their use in infectious diseases. We searched MEDLINE and Health Systems Evidence from inception to December 2022. We also hand searched websites of relevant organisations and conducted a forward citation search of the included frameworks. Two reviewers selected studies independently, one reviewer extracted data and one cross-checked for accuracy. We presented the results narratively.ResultsWe included 15 frameworks. Seven had a generic scope and eight were focused on specific topics (immunisation, COVID-19 or other, non-infectious diseases). From the included frameworks, we identified a total of 18 criteria with each framework assessing a median of eight, the most frequent being 'desirable effects', 'resources considerations' and 'feasibility'. We identified infectious disease examples for four frameworks: 'Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation' (GRADE), WHO-INTEGRATe Evidence (WHO-INTEGRATE), 'Ethics, Equity, Feasibility, and Acceptability' (EEFA) and 'Community Preventive Services Task Force' (CPSTF) evidence-to-decision frameworks.ConclusionAlthough several EIDM frameworks exist for public health decision-making, most have not been widely applied to infectious diseases. Current EIDM frameworks inconsistently address factors for public health decision-making. Further application and evaluation, and possibly adaptation of existing frameworks, is required to optimise decision-making in public health and infectious diseases.

Keywords: decision-making; health planning guidelines; infections; prevention and control; public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: Yang Song, Javier Bracchiglione, David Rigau and Pablo Alonso-Coello are part of the GRADE Barcelona Centre. Pablo Alonso-Coello is an author of the GRADE EtD framework. The authors declare that they have no other known competing financial interests or personal relationships that may have influenced the work conducted.

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PRISMA flowchart summarising the selection process
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