Quality assurance, norms and standards

WHO has a clear, dynamic process for technical departments to use when developing public health and clinical normative guidance. This entails quality assurance procedures and guiding principles for the design, formulation, and dissemination of WHO products. This ensures every set of recommendations or guidance that WHO produces is based on agreed scientific and ethical standards and is independently reviewed. WHO is also using new tools, such as machine learning, to expedite the conduct of systematic reviews. WHO has established living guideline processes for flagship publications so that countries can benefit from digitalized guidelines with up-to-date content and a simple format that enables continuous updating.

Science in action: living guidelines for COVID-19 treatment

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented level of information generation and a critical need for data sharing. To manage the flood of evidence that has been emerging in real time, WHO took an innovative approach: living guidelines for COVID-19 treatment, with recommendations revised as new evidence emerges. The pioneering process included new approaches for rapid review of evidence, standards for user-friendly interfaces for health professionals and policy makers, and immediate and widespread dissemination of updates. Thanks to access to digital tools and optimized approaches to guidelines development, this accelerated process has cut the average time from full data receipt to production of guidance from the typical six to nine months to as little as five to seven weeks.