Today, the COVID-19 Recommendations Map launches, offering policymakers, healthcare practitioners, researchers and the general public - anywhere in the world - a comprehensive catalogue of critically appraised evidence.
This global collaborative effort from Cochrane Canada, McMaster University’s WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases and an international consortium of researchers spanning six continents have developed this living map of the latest evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and care of COVID-19.
The project brought together Cochrane groups from across the world including Cochrane Germany, Cochrane Canada, Cochrane South Africa, and Cochrane Iberoamerica.
“The fast-evolving COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up the challenge of rapidly developing, appraising, disseminating and updating multiple guidelines. To meet this challenge, the international team we have assembled will provide evidence-based recommendations that can be accessed by anyone and applied in virtually any setting across the globe.”
Supporting healthcare decision-making in Canada and around the world, especially when time is of the essence, is the primary goal of Cochrane Canada and its many partners on this project, said Cochrane Canada’s Managing Director, Dr. Adrienne Stevens.
“Collectively, we have mobilized quickly to get this work underway. Our hope is that by providing access to these recommendations and their underlying evidence, we are reducing waste in research by capitalizing on efforts already put forth. Knowing what exists can also help inform decisions on what additional guidelines should be undertaken, effectively steering the use of research dollars on COVID-19.”
Funding for the living map was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
