Participation of policy actors in the development of health policies in India and Nigeria and the implications for the role of evidence in policy-making

Background Policy-making can be described as a complex decisionmaking process involving different actors engaged in negotiating their interests [1] and promoting different types of evidence. Policy informed by research evidence is widely seen as a good thing. However Monaghan [2] indicated that ‘Policy-makers may fish for evidence, select the beneficial bits and throw back those that are un-required’. This discretion in evidence and policy (EaP) processes and the selected participation of policy actors is inherently political. Our research analyses the participation of actors in EaP processes in India and Nigeria.