The World Health Organization Guidance on Clinical Management of Crimean- Congo Haemorrhagic Fever

Dr. Elie Akl, the director of the AUB GRADE center, co-chaired the panel meeting for the development of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on clinical management of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).

CCHF is one of the most widespread tick-borne diseases in humans and endemic in areas including the middle east and has a case-fatality rate between 10% and 40%. WHO has included CCHF in its list of priority pathogens for which urgent research and developmental action is required.

The panel meeting was co-hosted by the Robert Koch Institute in Germany and the WHO Experts Network Unit (formerly the Epidemic clinical Management Unit) and was held on April 4-5 in Berlin, Germany.

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer

Ms. Lara Kahale, the coordinator of the Clinical Epidemiological Unit at the Clinical Research Institute, contributed to the second panel meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH guidelines) that developed recommendations for the management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer. Ms. Kahale and the AUB team coordinated the work related to evidence synthesis and evidence presentation for that guideline. The meeting took place in the ASH headquarters in Washington D.C. on March 1 and 2, 2017 and included meetings for expert panels of an additional two of the ten guidelines being developed as part of this project.

Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for chronic non cancer pain

Dr. Elie Akl, the director of the AUB GRADE center, participated as a panelist in the
Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for chronic non cancer pain guideline panel meeting. The guidelines project is funded by Health Canada and took place in Hamilton, Ontario on the 5th and 6th of January 2017.

RARE- Best practices conference: use of GRADE in rare diseases

Dr. Andrea Darzi, the assistant director of the AUB GRADE center was invited to present on the "sickle cell disease pilot guidelines" at a conference in Rome, Italy on the 24th of November 2016. The RARE- Best practices project, funded by the European Union, organised the conference to disseminate its findings and offer a forum for discussing how this work could contribute to delivering better health decision-making and health policies for rare diseases. Dr. Darzi highlighted how the GRADE methodology can be used to develop and adapt guidelines for rare diseases. The AUB GRADE center took the lead in coordinating the "sickle cell disease pilot guidelines".

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on management of venous thromboembolism

Dr. Andrea Darzi, the assistant director of the AUB GRADE center, contributed to the first panel meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH guidelines) project addressing the management of venous thromboembolism guideline effort. The meeting took place in the ASH headquarters in Washington D.C. from November 14 to 18, 2016 and included meetings for expert panels of five of the ten guidelines being developed as part of this project.