Tools for public health law and policy co‑production

A new toolkit from the Prevention Centre provides guidance for researchers and policy makers on how to design and navigate successful co-produced public health law and policy projects. Produced in collaboration with The George Institute for Global Health and based on the Prevention Centre’s decade of experience in co-production, the toolkit includes tips on designing, implementing and communicating evidence-based public health law and policy.

While there is considerable guidance available on community engagement through co-production of research, little has been published in this field on strengthening the interplay between researchers and policy makers.

Public health law and policy researchers often face the challenge of attempting to exert influence through the creation and dissemination of evidence, while operating largely outside the policy-making realm. At the same time, policy makers can find it difficult to connect with researchers who have the specific expertise required for effective collaboration. This toolkit serves as an instruction manual, offering insights and practical steps to embark on a co-production journey, while also preparing policy makers and researchers for potential hurdles and risks.

Public health law expert Dr Jan Shanthosh is the lead author of this new toolkit and shares her career insights, including those from a Prevention Centre project on making public health law for the prevention of chronic disease.

Successful public health legislation has traditionally involved input from experts and stakeholders and the toolkit shows how co-production takes a more impactful approach for close collaboration from design through to implementation and evaluation.

Dr Jan Shanthosh

The toolkit can also be used to support a cultural shift toward co-producing public health law and policy with user-friendly modules covering the co-production process with all its challenges and risks. The modules include:

• Defining co-production
• Identifying opportunities
• Establishing governance
• Priority setting
• Prototyping and testing
• Implementation and evaluation
• Developing a communication strategy