State of the art of health observatories: narratives on policy and systems analysis

ABSTRACT The democratization and ease of publication of information, supported by new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), has provided the increasing use of tools designated as 'observatories' as an institutional device for health. The expansion of the demand for information in the process of elaboration and/or monitoring of public policies of the most distinct areas and fields of knowledge production has been a factor that has facilitated, in recent decades, the use of these tools in many countries, among them Brazil . This article aims to present the results of a review of the literature on existing observatories in the health area, characterizing the scientific production on Brazilian and international experiences dedicated to the analysis of policies and systems. The main research themes, researchers and study results were identified, with the purpose of discussing the functions of these observatories and possible contributions to health policies. Through an advanced search in databases, 233 publications were found. From the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 40 studies were selected for analysis and categorization. Most of the studies show that observatories had the function of providing credible information for follow-up on health policies, strategic planning and evidence-based decision making. It is worth mentioning the tendency to increase the capacity of the workforce in health research, to facilitate the management of data and the availability of information, as well as the functioning as a virtual repository of information or, also, the network organization. It is concluded with a reflection on the limits and possibilities of observatories as a new tool for health policies.摘要 在新兴信息与通信技术（ICT）的支撑下，信息的民主化传播与发布门槛降低，使得这类被定义为健康领域制度化工具的“观测站”的应用日益广泛。近数十年来，在制定或监测涵盖各领域、各知识生产范畴的公共政策过程中，信息需求持续扩张，这一因素推动了全球多国对这类工具的应用，巴西便是其中之一。 本文旨在梳理健康领域现有观测站相关文献的研究成果，系统阐述针对巴西及全球各国在政策与体系分析领域的观测站实践的科学研究产出。研究识别了核心研究主题、研究者群体与核心研究结论，旨在探讨此类观测站的功能及其对健康政策的潜在贡献。 通过在数据库中开展高级检索，共检索得到233篇相关文献。经纳入与排除标准筛选后，最终选取40项研究进行分析与分类。多数研究表明，观测站的核心功能包括为健康政策追踪、战略规划以及循证决策提供可靠信息。值得关注的是，此类观测站还呈现出多方面发展趋势：包括强化健康研究领域的人力能力建设、助力数据管理与信息公开、充当虚拟信息存储库，以及构建网络协作组织。 最后，本文就观测站作为健康政策新工具的应用局限与发展潜力展开反思总结。