According to WHO handbook for Guidelines (5) we used the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach to assess the quality of a body of evidence, develop and report recommendations. GRADE methods are used by WHO because they represent internationally agreed standards for making transparent recommendations. Detailed information on GRADE is available on the following sites:

Table 1 Quality of evidence in GRADE

WHO guideline reporting tool - V1.5, December 2021

Table 2 Significance of the four levels of evidence

Table 3 Factors that determine how to upgrade or downgrade the quality of evidence

WHO guideline reporting tool - V1.5, December 2021

The strength of the recommendation

The strength of a recommendation communicates the importance of adherence to this recommendation.

Strong recommendations
With strong recommendations, the guideline communicates the message that the desirable effects of adherence to the recommendation outweigh the undesirable effects. This means that in most situations the recommendation can be adopted as policy.

Conditional recommendations
These are made when there is greater uncertainty about the four factors mentioned in table 3 or if local adaptation has to account for a greater variety in values and preferences, or when resource use makes the intervention suitable for some, but not for other locations. This means that there is a need for substantial debate and involvement of stakeholders before this recommendation can be adopted as policy.

When not to make recommendations
When there is lack of evidence on the effectiveness of an intervention, it may be appropriate not to make a recommendation.