The focus of this document is to: (1) review the value, roles and functions of a NITAG; (2) provide directions and http://www.selleckchem.com/products/XL184.html identify issues for countries to consider when establishing or improving the functioning of a NITAG; and (3) outline potential WHO and partners’ roles and activities in support of the establishment and strengthening of NITAGs. A NITAG is both a technical resource and a deliberative body to empower the national authorities and policy makers to make evidence-based decisions. Such a resource is particularly important

in view of the complex and vast bodies of evidence and the global interdependence and integration of health systems. A well balanced and institutionalized group can aid a national programme to resist pressure from any interest or lobby group with narrow scopes or interests, including, but not only, that of industry and anti-immunization groups. This protective function is important, because without it, pressure from special interest groups could result in programme changes that are not well justified in the local context and may even cause harm.

A major advantage of a NITAG is the credibility of the process by which major policy decisions are made, which in turn adds credibility to the national immunization programme and to the government at large [7] and [8]. This credibility is of course linked to the rigor, transparency, and informed/evidence-based processes PF-06463922 in vivo by which the NITAG arrives at its decisions. Highly credible decisions can positively impact perceptions within the government, within the country or even beyond the country, thereby lending additional weight to proposed adjustments to the immunization programme and enhancing the ability to secure government or donor funding, support from professional organizations, and acceptance from the public. In addition, a standing NITAG will facilitate

a more comprehensive and cohesive country immunization program perspective that cannot easily be achieved by a series of disease or vaccine specific task forces or ad hoc committees composed of specific disease experts and advocates. These latter groups often provide recommendations in isolation without consideration also of the complete immunization program picture within the full context of other intervention strategies. Ideally, disease-specific technical working groups should be supported by and report to a NITAG. A NITAG or even a group which may have a broader mandate, such as an infectious disease control committee, will help consolidate programmes and have a more comprehensive and integrated approach in terms of interventions and target populations (e.g. they ideally would, consider the health of the entire population versus that of infants only). In theory, advisory groups could have a broader health mandate that extends beyond vaccines and immunization.