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ANNEX 1. The Guidelines development process

ANNEX 1 A1
tHe Guidelines development process

a1.1 treatment recommendations

The first edition of the WHO Guidelines for the Treatment of Malaria was developed over
an 18-month period and was published in 2006. The methodology for identifying the
questions, search and review of evidence is similar to that used in this current update. The
GRADE methodology was not applied at that time but, in formulating recommendations,
evidence was graded in order of priority as follows:
• formal systematic reviews, such as Cochrane reviews, including more than one
randomized control trial
• comparative trials without formal systematic review
• observational studies (e.g. surveillance and pharmacological data)
• expert opinions/consensus.
Since the release of the first edition of the guidelines, the WHO standard methods for
guidelines development has evolved and, thus, this revised edition (second edition)
was developed in accordance with the updated WHO standard methods for guideline
formulation. This was organized through a technical consultation on malaria treatment
1
guidelines by the Technical Guidelines Development Group, co-chaired by Professors Fred
Binka and Nick White (other participants are listed below). Conflict of interest statements
were received from all participants. The first technical consultation was convened in
April 2008, at which time the scope of the guidelines review and key questions to be
addressed were determined.
Following the first meeting, contracts for systematic search and reviews of relevant
evidence were awarded to research groups from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
in Liverpool, England. The search strategies employed included a search of the following
databases:
• the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group trials register (up to June 2004)
• the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) published in The
Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2004)
• MEDLINE (1966 to June 2004)
• EMBASE (1980 to June 2004)
• LILACS (1982 to June 2004)

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