The meeting was convened with the support of Dr A. Roberts, the Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee. The meeting objectives were to introduce the Cochrane African Network and activities to support the use of evidence-based practices at the hospital.

The meeting was attended by a cross section of staff from various departments in the hospital.

The meeting started with introductions followed by a presentation by Joseph Okebe which covered the following: 

• The steps in the practice of evidence-based medicine

• An introduction to systematic reviews

• Introduction to Cochrane and the Cochrane African Network

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session on aspects of the presentation and  more broadly on how the hospital can develop materials and practice guidelines. The key needs were summarised as:

• Capacity to develop protocols for practice in the hospital (all departments)

• Training to conduct systematic reviews and appraise evidence 

• Support in writing scientific abstracts (in preparation for a scientific conference)

These will be useful in supporting staff and management to improve the quality of service at the hospital.