Contraception guidance from model best evidence process: Evidence-Based Practice Current Resources for Evidence-Based Practice Carol Sakala, PhD, MSPH September/October 2006

he World Health Organization (WHO) and US agency nd academic partners have established a state-of-thecience system for staying abreast of best contraception vidence. The system is used to update WHO guidance bout who can use specific contraceptive methods safely nd how to safely and effectively use contraceptive ethods deemed appropriate. WHO and many countries ely on this guidance for policies and programming. In 2002, WHO and its partners established a system to dentify and assess potentially relevant evidence for ontraceptive eligibility/use as it becomes available and o use relevant better-quality evidence to develop new ystematic reviews or update existing reviews. This ontinuous Identification of Research Evidence (CIRE) rogram maintains a database that is searchable by ethod, condition, and practice (available from: http:// ww.infoforhealth.org/cire/). Over 40 systematic reiews have resulted, and 10 have recently been published n a special issue of Contraception (reviews in the issue nvolve intrauterine devices, regret after female sterilizaion, and a series of hormonal contraception topics, and re not listed separately in this column). To complement the most recent editions of its contraeption manuals, WHO makes updated guidance availble on a web page (available from: http://www.who. nt/reproductive-health/family_planning/updates.html). ohllajee and colleagues have described the system.