Global spotlights

Global spotlights can be accessed below and are shared through many of our dissemination partners. While our monthly evidence updates have now ended, individuals interested in continuing to automatically receive updates on the best available evidence to inform pandemic-response efforts are encouraged to register for a free account on the COVID-END inventory of evidence synthesis. Once your account is created, be sure to sign in to access exclusive features, which will enable you to:

  • explore the full list of search filters available, which you can then apply to narrow your search to find evidence of particular interest to you
  • click the ‘save and subscribe’ button at the top of your results page to save your search strategy and subscribe to receive a monthly email containing links to any documents that have been newly added and meet your search parameters.
Period covered Issue 
March 2023 Global spotlight 27.1
February 2023 Global spotlight 26.1
January 2023 Global spotlight 25.1 
December 2022 Global spotlight 24.1
Second half of November 2022 Global spotlight 23.2
First half of November 2022 Global spotlight 23.1
Second half of October 2022 Global spotlight 22.2
First half of October 2022 Global spotlight 22.1
Second half of September 2022 Global spotlight 21.2
First half of September 2022 Global spotlight 21.1
Second half of August 2022 Global spotlight 20.2
First half of August 2022 Global spotlight 20.1
Second half of July 2022 Global spotlight 19.2
First half of July 2022 Global spotlight 19.1
Second half of June 2022 Global spotlight 18.2
First half of June 2022 Global spotlight 18.1
Second half of May 2022 Global spotlight 17.2 
First half of May 2022 Global spotlight 17.1
Second half of April 2022 Global spotlight 16.2
First half of April 2022 Global spotlight 16.1
Second half of March 2022 Global spotlight 15.2
First half of March 2022 Global spotlight 15.1
Second half of February 2022 Global spotlight 14.2
First half of February 2022 Global spotlight 14.1
Second half of January 2022 Global spotlight 13.2
First half of January 2022 Global spotlight 13.1
December 2021 Global spotlight 12.1
Second half of November 2021 Global spotlight 11.2
First half of November 2021 Global spotlight 11.1
Second half of October 2021 Global spotlight 10.2 
First half of October 2021 Global spotlight 10.1
Second half of September 2021 Global spotlight 9.2
First half of September 2021 Global spotlight 9.1
Second half of August 2021 Global spotlight 8.2
First half of August 2021 Global spotlight 8.1
Second half of July 2021 Global spotlight 7.2
First half of July 2021 Global spotlight 7.1
Second half of June 2021 Global spotlight 6.2
First half of June 2021 Global spotlight 6.1
Second half of May 2021 Global spotlight 5.2
First half of May 2021 Global spotlight 5.1
Second half of April 2021 Global spotlight 4.2
First half of April 2021 Global spotlight 4.1
Second half of March 2021 Global spotlight 3.2
First half of March 2021 Global spotlight 3.1
Second half of February 2021 Global spotlight 2.2 
First half of February 2021 Global spotlight 2.1
To end of January 2021 Global spotlight 1

Global spotlights are published twice a month and include:

  • updates to ‘best’ living evidence syntheses
  • new ‘best’ evidence syntheses, which could be full or rapid reviews and living (i.e., regularly updated) or not.

For each entry in a spotlight (or each row in a spotlight table) we provide:

  • whether it addresses public-health measures, clinical management, health-system arrangements, or economic and social responses (i.e., what part of the COVID-END taxonomy it addresses)
  • hyperlinked ‘declarative title’ that provides decision-relevant details like the interventions or exposures examined and the certainty of available evidence
  • type of synthesis (drawn from the above list)
  • date of last search for evidence
  • quality of the evidence synthesis
  • whether an evidence profile (e.g., GRADE) is available that speaks to the certainty of the evidence contained in the evidence synthesis.

The entries include the best syntheses in the world on COVID-19-related questions and draw on the COVID-END inventory of best evidence syntheses.

All new requests from decision-makers are checked against both our inventory of best evidence syntheses (from which these global spotlights are drawn) and our inventory of Canadian evidence syntheses (from which our Canadian spotlights are drawn) to ensure we share and build on already completed work.