2 February 2023 – After a series of preparatory meetings, a technical workshop on Egypt’s national programme for guideline development and adaptation in Egypt was held on 30 January–2 February 2023 in Cairo, hosted by the WHO Country Office in Egypt, in close collaboration with the evidence and data to policy programme of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean’s Department of Science, Information and Dissemination.
The workshop was held under the patronage of, and was attended by, His Excellency, the Minister of Health and Population of Egypt Professor Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, along with representatives from various governmental organizations and academic institutions. Participants included senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Population and its affiliated bodies, especially the General Organization for Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (GOTHI), which has been assigned the role of establishing a national guidelines programme by the Ministry of Health and Population, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Egypt’s Healthcare Authority, Egyptian Health Council, Ministry of Defense, universities and academic institutions, and medical specialty societies for various medical specialties such as cardiology, neurology, paediatrics and neonatology among others.
Dr Mohamed Fawzy Al Soda (President of GOTHI), Dr Naeema Al-Gasseer (WHO Representative in Egypt), Dr Arash Rashidian (Director of the Department of Science, Information, and Dissemination, WHO Regional Office), Dr Paul Garner (Emeritus Professor, Evidence Synthesis in Global Health, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), Dr Nathan Ford (Chair of WHO’s Guidelines Review Committee), Dr Edith Patouillard, (Senior Health Economist, Economic Evaluation and Analysis programme, Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing, WHO headquarters), Dr Mehrnaz Kheirandish (Regional Advisor, evidence and data to policy programme, WHO Regional Office), Dr Gasser Gad El-Kareem (Technical Officer, WHO country office), and Dr Riham El-Asady (Consultant, WHO country office) were some of the key experts in attendance at this high-level workshop.
The workshop aimed to enhance technical capacity for the development and adaptation of guidelines, and to conduct a training of trainers workshop for development and adaptation of guidelines. During the 4-day event, participants discussed and reviewed the development and adaptation processes of clinical practice and public health guidelines, including best practices, methods and tools.
H.E. Dr Abdel Ghaffar emphasized the importance of the national programme for guideline development and adaptation in improving the quality of health care services and ensuring that clinical and public health guidelines are based on the latest scientific evidence. He highlighted the need for effective collaboration and coordination among stakeholders to achieve the objectives of the programme.
Five technical sessions and 6 group exercises were held at the workshop, including both theoretical and practical sessions on the development and adaptation of evidence-based clinical practice and public health guidelines.
The technical workshop provided a platform to develop strategies for implementation of the national programme for guideline development and adaptation in an effective manner; and agree on the main action points for establishing the programme in Egypt. The launch of the national programme is an important step towards achieving better health outcomes for the population of Egypt.