These guidelines were developed in accordance with the process described in the WHO handbook for guideline development.³ Confidence in the certainty of the evidence underpinning the recommendations was ascertained using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The Guideline Development Group, an international group of experts, was convened to advise WHO in this process, to provide input into the scope of these guidelines and to assist the WHO Steering Group in developing the key questions. A total of three background questions and four PICO (population, intervention, comparison and outcome) questions were developed. The guideline development process was informed by systematic evidence reviews, which concluded in seven IPC policy recommendations.
To ensure that these recommendations are correctly understood and applied in practice, additional remarks as well as considerations for implementation are included under each recommendation in the full text of the document. The seven recommendations are presented below.
¹ Guidelines on core components of infection prevention and control programmes at the national and acute health care facility level. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016 (http://www.who.int/gpsc/core-components.pdf, accessed 18 December 2018).
² WHO policy on TB infection control in health-care facilities, congregate settings and households (WHO/HTM/TB/2009.419). Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO); 2009 (http://apps.who.int/iris/ bitstream/handle/10665/44148/9789241598323_eng. pdf?sequence=1, accessed 18 December 2018).
³ WHO handbook for guideline development (second edition). Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO). 2014 (http://apps.who.int/iris/ bitstream/10665/145714/1/9789241548960_eng.pdf, accessed 18 December 2018).