Extensive collaboration to mobilise rapid evidence-informed decision-making for the National treatment guidelines for COVID-19 in South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical need for expedient access to high-quality evidence to inform clinical management and medicine procurement decisions in South Africa (SA). Through extensive collaboration between the South African National Department of Health (NDOH), National Essential Medicines List Ministerial Advisory Committee (NEML-MAC) on COVID-19 Therapeutics, and SA GRADE Network, co-led by Cochrane SA and the Centre for Evidence-Based Health (Stellenbosch University), we produced rapid evidence reviews that informed National Guidelines for COVID-19 management.