WHO handbook for guidelines development: supplement: criteria for use of evidence to inform recommendations in World Health Organization guidelines

Overview

World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines contain one or more recommendations which are informed by a comprehensive, systematic review of the relevant evidence on benefits and harms of an intervention or effects of exposure on priority outcomes. In addition, recommendations are informed by evidence on other important considerations that may modify the successful implementation and impact of the recommendations in various contexts.

Decisions on the inclusion of types of evidence for specific recommendations are based on the underlying principles of evidence-informed decision-making, which are, in turn, based on the principles of scientific rationale.

Principles

These principles underpin all decisions to include or exclude particular study designs, individual studies, or data from specific sources from the body of evidence that informs a recommendation.