The pilot phase of the Rapid Response Service (RRS) at Makerere University College of Health Sciences starts. The pilot proves feasibility of the service, showing that there is demand for timely access to contextualized and tailored syntheses of evidence among policymakers in a low- and middle-income country.
November 2011
The Programme hosts a researcher from Burkina Faso to spend time immersed with the RRS at Makerere University. The pilot in Burkina Faso begins and is partially operating out of Makerere University where the RRS officer is stationed. After six months, the researcher returns to Ouagadougou to continue and end the pilot and launch a larger phase. Doctoral students further the understanding and implementation of the Rapid Response Service
May 2013
Process evaluation of the RRS to assess and compare the extent to which the program was being implemented.
October 2015
The International Development Research Centre Canada funds scale - up of the Rapid Response Service through the Using Evidence to Strengthen Health Systems in Africa and Middle East (UEvidence) Project. The project built on lessons learnt in the pilot to scale up the RRS in Uganda, Zambia, and establish it in Lebanon.
May 2018
The Hewlett and Flora Foundation provides funding to establish the Center of Excellence for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES) at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. The Rapid Response Service expands to the non-health sector and continues at the districts. The Organizational development of ACRES starts to establish an autonomous institution to develop and sustain the Rapid Response Services.
November 2019
ACRES joins the Partnership for Equity and Evidence in Responsive Social Systems (PEERSS), a global network working to advance the use of evidence for progress in social systems.
January 2022
The Rapid Response Service evaluates the establishment of Rapid Response Centers in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Lebanon funded by the Alliance for Health Systems and Policy Research at the WHO.
November 2009
The European Union funds the Strengthening Use of Research Evidence for policy in African Health Systems, a five-year project in its Seventh Framework programme (FP7). SURE proposed and developed innovative Knowledge translation strategies, including the Rapid Response to improve access and use of policy-relevant syntheses of research evidence that are contextualized and tailored to meet the needs of decision-makers.
April 2011
The Rapid Response Service is scaled up to include more policymakers following the success of the pilot phase.
August 2012
RRS at Makerere University provides technical assistance for pilots in the region, Zambia and Cameroon.
Febraury 2014
RRS provides technical input support for the establishment of RRS beyond the region, e.g., Brazil and Canada
December 2015
RRS at Makerere University College of Health Sciences supports more countries and teams to establish the RRS, including Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, Georgia, Malaysia, and Zimbabwe. Researchers trained, Rapid Response Units established, policymakers trained and policies impacted.
September 2019
ACRES joins the Heightening Institutional Capacity of Government Use of Health Research Evidence Consortium funded by the WHO/Wellcome Trust. The consortium seeks to make routine the use of health research evidence through leveraging and strengthening existing structures within the Ministries of Health in Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi. Policymakers are trained, policy processes reached and impacted. The Ministry of Health governance and management structures and processes are impacted.
April 2020
Start of Phase II at MakCHS.
Phase II of the Center of Excellence for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES) at Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Febraury 2022
ACRES starts a new project to embed the use of evidence in institutional processes of government.
