This publication is being published by the WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health which has been established following the merger of the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH) and Making Pregnancy Safer. It was prepared by the WHO Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH) in collaboration with the WHO Departments of Making Pregnancy Safer and Reproductive Health and Research, on the basis of the work undertaken in collaboration with several individuals and organizations that contributed to the development of these guidelines (listed below) and on the basis of the WHO Expert Panel meeting, held in Geneva on 2–3 November of 2010. WHO acknowledges their contributions with gratitude.
The pressing need for the guidelines was communicated to WHO by policy-makers and programme managers in many developing countries. The development of these guidelines was led by Alma Virginia Camacho and Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli. They would like to convey their special thanks to Ahmet Metin Gulmezoglu of the Department of Reproductive Health and Research for his guidance throughout the development process.
Some others deserve a special mention for their contributions:
Guillermo Carolli, Director of the Centro Rosarino de Estudio Perinatales chaired the Expert Panel meeting.
Jane Ferguson provided useful comments and suggestions through the process and contributed to the synthesis of the reviews.
Patty Whyte supported the guidelines working group in understanding and applying the GRADE methodology during the process and in the final external Expert Panel meeting.
Alma Adler and Tomas John Allen supported the development of the search strategies and the preparation of the databases in End Note Web.
Angela Bayer supported the preparation of the initial scoping and methodology meetings and reports and Rupal Sanghvi supported the preparation of the report of the Expert Panel meeting.
Three WHO interns made useful contributions at different stage of the process: Nyasule Majura assisted with collating materials and posting them in the community of practice. Sudit Ranade in preparing the submission to the Guidelines Review Committee, and Juliana Bennington in revising the summaries of studies for outcomes 2 and 3. Magdalena Musngi and Anita Blavo provided administrative support throughout what became a lengthy process.
The following people collected, synthesized, and summarized the evidence that provided the basis for the discussions at the Expert Panel meeting:
Susan Lee-Rife and Ann Warner of the International Center for Research on Women for
outcome 1.
Donna MaCarraher and Nancy Williamson of FHI for
outcomes 2 and
3.
Wendy Baldwin and Althea Anderson of Population Council, for
outcome 4.
Akin Bankole and Elena Prada of the Guttmacher Institute, for
outcome 5.
Guillermo Carrolli and Yanina Sgaussero of the Centro Rosarino de Estudios Perinatales for
outcome 6.
The following experts participated in the scoring of key questions on interventions and a list of possible outcomes for early pregnancy prevention and reproductive outcomes:
Luz María Agudelo, Wendy Baldwin, Valentina Baltag, Akin Bankole, Angela Bayer, Meena Cabral de Mello, Oona Campbell, Guillermo Carrolli, René Castro, Agustín Conde-Agudelo, Sylvia Deganus, Patrick Delorme, France Donnay, Albertina Duarte, Mawaheb Tawhid El-Mouelhy, Ricardo Fescina, Kirrin Gill, Joaquín G. Gómez Davila, Natalie Gray, Ahmet Metin Gulmezoglu, Sarah Harbison, Michelle Hindin, Debra Jones, Susan Lee-Rife, Matilde Maddaleno, Hossein Malekafzali, Elizabeth Mapella, Mathews Matthai, Ramiro Molina, Patanjali Nayar, Pius Okong, Peju Olukoya, Razia Pendse, Elena Prada, Anayda Portela, Neena Raina, Hernán Rodríguez, James Rosen, Susheela Singh, Shyam Tapa, Jenny Troung, Nancy Williamson and Laurie Zabin.
The following external experts participated in the Expert Panel meeting as members of the External Review Group:
Mengistu Asnake, Sylvia Deganus, Elizabeth Mapella, Eliya Zulu, Ximena Abarca, Michelle Hindin, Tania Lago, Ximena Luengo, Ruth Dixon-Mueller, James Rosen, Nancy Williamson, Sherine Shawky, Dan Apter, Quamrun Nahar, Sudha Sharma, Juanita Basilio, Natalie Gray, Saramma Mathai, Kechi Ogbuagu, Sylvia Wong, Patty Alleman, Marisaa Billowitz, Debra Jones and Roza Olyai.
The following WHO staff participated in the Guidelines Development Committee:
Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development: Elizabeth Mason, Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, Alma Virginia Camacho and Jane Ferguson;
Department of Research, Policy and Coordination: Regina Kulier;
Department of Making Pregnancy Safer: Matthews Mathai, Razia Pendse and Anayda Portela;
Department of Gender, Women and Health: Adepeju Aderemi Olukoya;
Department of Reproductive Health and Research: Ahmet Metin Gulmezoglu, Claudia García Moreno, Ronald Johnson, Shyam Thapa and Mary Lynn Gaffield;
American Regional Office: Amalia Anaya and Pablo Durán;
South East Asia Regional Office: Neena Raina.
The process leading to the preparation of these guidelines was financially supported by the WHO Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region provided additional support for the Expert Panel meeting.
