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The Third Asia Pacific Conference on Evidence-Based Medicine was successfully concluded on the 28th November 2004 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Han Qi De, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's National Congress of China, Professor Huang Jie Fu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health of China, Dr Chow York, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, and Professor Lawrence Lau, Vice Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong expressed congratulations on the opening of the Conference. Dr Muir Gray CBE, Founding Director of Oxford Institute of Health Sciences and Professor Paul Glasziou, Director of the Oxford Centre for EBM delivered the keynote speeches. Over 300 delegates from 28 countries and regions worldwide participated in the conference. One hundred and seven delegates gave presentations. Over 250 delegates attended the two training programmes on EBM and systematic reviews. The conference received enthusiastic participation and contribution from all the delegates during the entire course of the programmes. The conference concluded that knowledge will be the major enemy of disease in the 21st century and all clinical and health care decisions should be based on the best evidence available. Evidence from scientific research in human subjects constitutes the knowledge that can be used to guide clinical practice directly and inform health care decisions. In the past few decades, science has advanced greatly, but there was collective ignorance about the scientific evidence on the effects of health care. Today, there is still a gap between current scientific knowledge and its applications: between what we know and what is actually being done. Good knowledge of health care is like clean drinking water to a person. Generating, summarizing and disseminating evidence from scientific research must be organized collectively for utilization in the way we supply drinking water. Local commitments as well as international efforts are essential for successfully translating knowledge into actions to continually improve the quality and efficiency of health care. During the conference, representatives from 12 countries and regions in the Asia Pacific also discussed and formed the ‘Asia Pacific EBM Network’ to strengthen further collaborations and facilitate the development of evidence-based medicine in this region. Professor Jin Ling Tang, Director of the Chinese Cochrane Centre Hong Kong Branch was elected the chairman of the network. In addition, the Chinese book Evidence-Based Decision Making in Healthcare by Dr Muir Gray CBE and Professor Jin Ling Tang and published by Peking University Medical Press was for the first time introduced to readers during the conference.