title: [Is evidence-based medicine useful for public health?].
abstract: Evidence-based medicine is a fashionable topic although the discussions is open regarding whether it has any practical interest for daily medical practice or public health policy. One needs therefore to focus on the way evidence-based medicine can improve matters for physicians, but also on some serious challenges facing health professionals. Upon close examination, it appears that evidence-based medicine provides us with concepts and methods likely to be useful in three directions: improvement of the health care decision-making process, reinforcement of professional accountability dedicated to the promotion of human rights, implementation of fair health policy regulations taking into account the intricate relationships between participants dealing with individual or community oriented interventions. When facing these challenges, evidence-based medicine certainly deserves further attention in the field of community and public health.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Epidémiologie, Biostatistique et Méthodes opérationnelles en Santé Publique (EPID 30.34), Ecole de Santé Publique, Faculté de Médecine, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1200 Bruxelles, Belgique. tonglet@epid.ucl.ac.be
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tonglet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D001724:Birth Weight; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011634:Public Health; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000517:prevention & control