Building a comprehensive evidence base for public health interventions: Activities of the Cochrane public health review group

This paper will provide an overview of the current and future activities of the Public Health Group of the Cochrane Collaboration, outlining processes and contributions to the evidence base for public health.  The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, not-for profit organisation that focuses on making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health care readily available worldwide. Its primary product is The Cochrane Library, which includes a collation of over 5000 Cochrane systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions. This group formed in recognition that the scope of existing Cochrane Review Groups were not appropriate to address review questions of most concern to public health practitioners and policy makers, such as those related to broad, cross-cutting topics like addressing the health effects of urban sprawl, income maintenance strategies, transport initiatives, and related interventions designed to address the upstream, broader determinants of health.  This paper outlines the development of the new PHRG, with public health content and review methodology expertise, to review the effects of programs, policies, and practices aimed at improving population health and community living conditions. Development of a skilled editorial team, and refinement of review methods, to ensure a focus on equity, theory, context and applicability, as well as a commitment to reviewer training and knowledge translation, has underpinned our work program thus far. We will provide examples of current activity (including reviews in-progress) and our future workplan, which will reflect our commitment to priority setting, developing countries, and building global networks. We will also discuss opportunities for all those interested in contributing to this exciting new entity.