The question of how to create better policies using the best evidence points towards using the best available evidence. But research is not the only source of evidence for the complex process of policy-making; other factors are also important besides evidence from research, or to circumvent the lack of scientific evidence. This is legitimate and fully acceptable in a democracy. The challenge is how to balance all these important factors: how to make sure that the available evidence from sound research is known and taken into account; and how to avoid confining policy-making only to evidence that comes in formally organized and structured forms, namely research.

WHO Regional Office for Europe & nbsp;is dedicated to its mission to provide systematic evidence, really useful for policy-making. The Health Evidence Network is one of the initiatives. The web-based network provides short answers to the questions raised by public health policy makers, as well as access to databases and policy documents of other organizations. The information is in English, with summaries in French, German and Russian and access is free of charge.    http://www.euro.who.int/HEN