10 Data/statistics, statements and claims made by WHO headquarters about population-level (country, regional, global) estimates of health status (e.g. mortality, incidence, prevalence and burden of disease), health determinants (e.g. risk factor prevalence and distribution), health service coverage or effectiveness, and any other health-related indicators included in WHO publications are subject to clearance by the Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI (DDA). Refer to the checklist under “related content” to facilitate the clearance.
20 Data/statistics, statements and claims related to health economics and financing (e.g. disease financial or economic burden, health intervention costs, cost-effectiveness, value for money, investment return, revenue raising, health expenditures, financial protection mechanisms, financial hardship, out-of-pocket payments and/or financial barriers to access care) included in WHO publications are subject to clearance by the Department of Health Financing and Economics (HFE) (Information Note XX/2023).
30 In regional and country offices, population-level data (primary and estimates) that are intended for publication are subject to clearance by the relevant unit(s) in accordance with the procedures established by the regional office concerned.
40 For publications (e.g. reports, policy briefs and information sheets; see section VIII.1.1) and Technical Products that are not publications (e.g. country profiles, dashboards and data portals), clearance of health and economic related information should be obtained through the executive clearance process (see section VIII.1.4).
50 Clearance of health and economic related information is not required for external publications (e.g. journal articles, book chapters or books) that are attributed to WHO staff members or consultants and report the results of specific studies or reviews, provided that the data or estimates have already been cleared and published by WHO. Statistical clearance of health and economic related information is also not required for databases with primary data that include sources for each statistic or for background papers prepared by WHO staff or external advisers for consideration by WHO expert advisory groups, unless those papers are to be published as corporate publications.
60 External publications should carry a disclaimer to the effect that the views expressed are those of the individual authors concerned and not WHO (see section VIII.6.5).
70 For communications materials (e.g. fact sheets and press releases) originating from WHO headquarters, statistical clearance of health and economic related information should be obtained prior to their submission to the Department of Communications (DCO) (see section V.2.4); for governing bodies documentation, statistics clearance should be obtained prior to their submission to the Department of Governing Bodies and External Relations (GBS).
80 In the event of discrepancies in data or estimates between global, regional or country offices, further consultations (including with the MS concerned) may be required. Likelihood of discrepancies may be reduced with adherence to international statistical standards or other well recognised global standards, clearly published metadata, including clear indicator and denominator definitions.
