Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Public health leadership faces widening inequities, uneven life expectancy trends, and growing information disorder. Experience from COVID-19 showed that shortcomings often stem less from lack of evidence than from weaknesses in how evidence inform decisions. This commentary reframes the challenge as one of evidence governance: ensuring that knowledge is interpreted, debated, and translated into fair, accountable action. We introduce GUARD, a practice-oriented framework for governing evidence: Govern in public, User power-sharing, Architect and audit integrity, Resist manipulation of meaning, and Demonstrate legitimacy. Rather than proposing new principles, GUARD operationalizes existing ones into implementable governance routines, offering public health leaders a practical pathway to strengthen legitimacy, reduce inequities, and sustain trustworthiness under uncertainty.
Source: Public health reviews
Institutions: Université de Bordeaux, Inserm, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Population Health, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Université de Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems: social and nutritional sciences, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Aix-Marseille Université, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille, Economic & Social Sciences, Health Systems & Medical Informatics
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,389
OpenAlex ID: W7154743380