A systematic approach for undertaking a research priority-setting exercise

Overview

This document provides guidance to all staff of the World Health Organization who need to plan and manage a research priority-setting exercise. This guide is based on a collection of good practice examples and methodologies drawn from across WHO and more widely. The document sets out a systematic approach to guide you to Plan, Implement, Publish and Evaluate (PIPE) your research priority-setting process.

The document guides you through a series of steps where decisions need to be taken. It provides a template in Annex 1 for designing your priority-setting exercise. The guidance has been developed to enable a flexible approach that is suited to all types of research priority-setting, whether focused on single diseases, national approaches or global roadmaps and whether you involve a small group of experts during an emergency or undertake a global consultation over a number of months. This document also shows you where to get advice and help.

This document provides a systematic guide to assist you in planning and implementing a quality research priority-setting exercise that will match the context you are working in. The resulting exercise should contain legitimate and credible priorities that have been developed in an ethical and equitable manner. The objectives will support the achievement of WHO’s Triple Billion Goal: a billion more people with universal health coverage, a billion more people protected from health emergencies and a billion more people with better health and well-being. The resulting research priorities that are developed can then be reported, clearly describing how and why the priorities were identified and who has responsibility for implementing them. This document will help you to review and monitor the impact of the exercise in order to measure how it met your original objectives and how it might be improved if repeated.