Evidence-Based Medicine Matters

Richard Horton

Editor, The Lancet

Progress to reduce disadvantage, inequality, and poor health in society depends on generating the best and most reliable evidence. This is the task of modern medical and public-health science, and it is a task that those who work in these fields do incredibly successfully. Yet there is a terrible schizm between the production of reliable knowledge and its application. Partly, this is the fault of scientists for failing to appreciate the critical part they play in social change. But partly too it is the fault of policy makers who too often choose to ignore evidence and make decisions based on instinct or ideology. Our collective task – and this is a mission The Lancet is passionate about – is to bring scientists and policymakers together to deliver the benefits of science to those who need them most: the individuals and communities that we, as doctors, serve before anyone else.