SURE Guide 5 is part of the SURE Guides for Preparing and Using Evidence-Based Policy Briefs. The SURE Guides are intended for those people responsible for preparing and supporting the use of policy briefs and ensuring that decisions about health systems are well-informed by research evidence. The guides focus specifically on these issues in the context of African health systems and the examples used are taken from policy briefs that address important problems in African countries.
SURE Guide 5 provides guidance on identifying and addressing barriers to implementing policy options. If viable policy options are not properly implemented they are unlikely to be effective. It is therefore important to consider what potential barriers there may be to the implementation of policy options and how to address these. This entails four steps:
• Identifying potential barriers
• Identifying strategies to address those barriers
• Finding and appraising evidence of the effects of those strategies
• Summarising what is known about potential barriers and the likely effects of strategies for addressing them
