Establishing Executive Guideline Steering Group for Updating WHO Maternal and Perinatal Health Recommendations (2017-2019)
3 March 2017 – The World Health Organization adopted standard procedures for guideline development based on the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group approach in 2007. Since 2009, the Maternal and Perinatal Health team of the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research has released a total of seven clinical guidelines with more than 170 recommendations based on over 200 systematic reviews. The team also developed one health system guideline with 119 recommendations based on four broad systematic reviews and is currently working on two major guidelines for release in 2017/18. This already large and growing evidence base for WHO maternal and perinatal health guidelines implies that keeping recommendations up to date in a timely manner based on the current method constitutes a major challenge.
As part of its commitment to addressing global and country level needs, and in line with a new process for keeping WHO maternal and perinatal health guidelines up to date, the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research is establishing an “Executive Guideline Steering Group (Executive GSG)” for the term 2017-2019. This Executive GSG will play a leadership role in the new guideline updating procedures and support WHO to specifically implement the following tasks:
List of experts with biographies
-
See list of experts
pdf, 116kb
NOTE: The Executive GSG members are participating in the meeting on their individual capacity. Affiliations are presented only as a reference. The participation of experts in a WHO meeting does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the WHO nor does it create a binding relationship between the experts and WHO. The biographies have been provided by the experts themselves and are the sole responsibility of the individuals concerned. WHO is not responsible for the accuracy, veracity and completeness of the information provided. In accordance with WHO conflict of interest assessment policy, expert’s biographies are published for transparency purposes. Comments and perceptions are brought to the knowledge of WHO through the public notice and comment process. Comments sent to WHO are treated confidentially and their receipt will be acknowledged through a generic email notification to the sender. Please send any comments to the following email: mpa-info@who.int. WHO reserves the right to discuss information received through this process with the relevant expert with no attribution to the provider of such information. Upon review and assessment of the information received through this process, WHO, in its sole discretion, may take appropriate management of conflicts of interests in accordance with its policies.
- Prioritizing existing recommendations (or guideline questions) that need to be updated;
- Identifying and recommending new questions that should be addressed within the context of updating thematic areas already covered by existing WHO guidelines;
- Defining the scope for new guideline thematic areas, including specific issues that need to be addressed in future WHO guidelines
- Supporting WHO in maintaining an up-to-date and balanced portfolio of evidence-based recommendations in maternal and perinatal health.
The Executive GSG members will participate in at least one face-to-face and 1-2 virtual meetings per year until the end of their terms. In identifying potential members of the Executive GSG, we have considered individuals with demonstrated knowledge, expertise, and national, regional or global leadership in research; clinical prevention, health promotion, and or therapeutic care; and implementation of evidence-based recommendations in clinical practice, including at clinician-patient, health system, or programme level; in relation to maternal and perinatal health.
In keeping with the requirements of the WHO Guidelines Review Committee and the WHO Compliance, Risk Management and Ethics Office, we are posting online for two weeks short biographies of the Executive GSG members, the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group Editorial Office staff, and partner organizations/meeting observers who will participate in the activities of this group. The listed candidates for Executive GSG membership have also submitted a Declaration of Interest form stating any conflict of interests. WHO has applied its internal processes to ensure that the performance of the above tasks by members of this group will be transparent and without any significant conflict of interests (academic, financial, or other) that could affect the credibility of WHO recommendations. Nevertheless, WHO invites the general public to review the experts and stakeholders involved and provide feedback regarding any member deemed to have a significant conflict of interest with respect to the terms of reference for this group. Comments and feedbacks should be cordial and constructive, and sent to mpa-info@who.int.