Communication principles
10 The following principles apply to all communications with Member States.
- All WHO staff in regional and country offices and at WHO headquarters who will be involved in the collection, analysis and publication of data should be informed of the process and their respective roles in advance. Regional offices can help to ensure the relevant staff in country offices are informed and involved.
- WHO regional and country offices should be involved in identifying the appropriate respondents within countries, areas and territories such as focal points within the ministry of health.
- Communications concerning data collection, validation, review of analyses and review of estimates with country respondents should be accessible to WHO staff at all three levels of the Organization.
20 Communications can be tailored to the nature of the data collection exercise and its associated infrastructure.
- Well-established exercises, such as those for annual reports mandated by World Health Assembly resolutions, may simply require reminder to be sent to WHO and country respondents in advance of starting, to ensure that any changes in personnel are reflected in the distribution list. These may be communicated via the data management system used for the exercise, email, or other existing channels
- New exercises, on the other hand, may require a more formal process to establish an appropriate distribution list (see paragraphs 30 to 40).,
30 Invitations to all Member States to participate in a country consultation to review estimates, data and statistics are considered as official correspondence and are usually sent out via a circular letter when a consultation is initiated for the first time. The circular letter should set out the underlying policy, the scope and purpose of the consultation, the relevant estimate, data or statistics requirements and the schedule for the consultation, as well as the planned release date of the estimate, data or statistic. Member States should also be asked to designate a focal point(s) for the consultation.
40 Circular letters pertaining to country consultations to review estimates, statistics or data must be prepared in English and cleared by the director and assistant director-general or executive director of the department concerned, DDI and LEG (if appropriate) before being sent to GBS for clearance when a consultation is initiated for the first time. The cleared draft must be received by GBS, together with relevant background information (including the proposed methodology and supporting documents), at least one month prior to sending out the invitation. GBS is responsible for translating circular letters into the five other languages and dispatching them to Member States and the six regional offices; DGO/CSS forwards them to the heads of country offices.
50 Invitations to selected Member States to participate in a country consultation to review estimates or statistics are also considered as official correspondence and are usually sent out via individual letters, which should be prepared in consultation with the regional and country offices concerned. The letters must be prepared in English and cleared in the same way as circular letters before being sent to GBS for clearance, together with relevant background information. GBS is responsible for the translation if necessary.
60 For some technical areas, it may be preferable to conduct a country consultation using a “cascade approach", in which technical units at WHO headquarters share the consultation details with their regional focal points, who then contact the Member States or the WHO Representatives/Heads of WHO country offices (see section I.5.4). If the consultation concerns indicators in the global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it may be conducted by contacting the SDG national statistical officers.
