Scope and purpose
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the need to use more rigorous processes to ensure that health care recommendations are informed by the best available research evidence. In May of 2005 the 58th World Health Assembly passed a resolution requesting the Director-General "to undertake an assessment of WHO's internal resources expertise and activities in the area of health research, with a view to develop a position paper on WHO's role and responsibilities in the area of health research, and to report through the Executive Board to the next World Health Assembly". WHO asked its Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR) for advice on ways in which WHO can improve the use of research evidence in the development of recommendations, including guidelines and policies. The ACHR established the Subcommittee on the Use of Research Evidence (SURE) to collect background documentation and consult widely among WHO staff, international experts, and end-users of WHO recommendations to inform its advice to WHO. The Guidelines Review Committee (GRC) was established in 2007 with the purpose of developing and implementing procedures to ensure that WHO guidelines are developed in ways consistent with best practices, emphasizing the appropriate use of evidence.
The process described in the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development has been adopted as of 1 January 2009. Additionally, as part of implementing the outcomes and recommendations of the WHO Nutrition Programme Review undertaken in 2008, the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD) has been strengthening its role in providing evidence-based policy and programme guidance to Member States, in partnership with relevant internal departments and partners and guided by the new WHO guideline development process
To implement this process, NHD has established the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) guided by the WHO Steering Committee for Nutrition Guidelines Development, which includes representatives from all Departments in WHO with an interest in the provision of recommendations in nutrition. Membership in NUGAG is for two years and NUGAG includes experts from various WHO Expert Advisory Panels and those identified through open calls for experts taking into consideration a balanced mix of genders, multiple disciplinary areas of expertise, and representation from all WHO Regions. Currently, the NUGAG consists of four subgroups: 1) micronutrients; 2) diet and health; 3) nutrition in the life course and undernutrition, and 4) monitoring and evaluation.
The NUGAG implements a biannual programme of work on these areas and meets twice a year to provide advice on the following:
- The scope of the guidelines and priority questions for which systematic reviews of evidence will be undertaken;
- The choice of important outcomes for decision-making and developing recommendations;
- The interpretation of the evidence with explicit consideration of the overall balance of risks and benefits; and
- The final formulating of recommendations, taking into account existing evidence as well as diverse values and preferences.
WHO is convening the next meeting of the NUGAG Subgroup on Diet and Health in Seoul, Republic of Korea from 29 November - 02 December 2011 to continue with the process. This third meeting of the NUGAG Subgroup on Diet and Health is a follow-up to the two previous meetings which both took place in Geneva, the first in February 2010 and the second in March 2011.
The objectives of the Third Meeting of the NUGAG Subgroup on Diet and Health are to:
- Review and discuss the outcomes of the further revised and updated systematic reviews of the evidence and the GRADE Evidence profiles for sugars and total fat;
- Finalize the evidence-informed recommendations on sugars and total fat and assess the strength of the recommendations, taking into consideration the balance of evidence on benefits and adverse effects, costs, values and preferences, and ethical considerations;
- Identify implications for future research on the issues related to sugars and total fat;
- Develop plans for updating the recommendations and guidelines on sugars and total fat, considering the on-going research and controversies;
- Review and discuss the outcomes of the systematic reviews of the evidence and the GRADE Evidence profiles for sodium and potassium;
- Review draft evidence-informed recommendations for sodium and potassium intake and assess the strength of the recommendations, taking into consideration the balance of evidence on benefits and adverse effects, costs, values and preferences, and ethical considerations;
- Identify implications for future research on the issues related to sodium and potassium consumption and health;
- Develop plans for updating the recommendations on sodium and potassium intake, considering the on-going research and controversies.