Preventing and Managing Conflicts of Interest in Country-level Nutrition Programs: A Roadmap for Implementing the World Health Organization’s Draft Approach in the Americas

Abstract

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) expects this publication to help its Member States identify, prevent, and manage potential conflicts of interest in potential engagement with non-State actors in their nutrition programs. The publication sets out a roadmap for introducing and implementing in the Region of the Americas the Draft Approach for the Prevention and Management of Conflicts of Interest in the Policy Development and Implementation of Nutrition Programmes at Country Level, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2017. This roadmap describes how relevant teams within Member States’ Ministries of Health can be introduced to and gain familiarity with the WHO approach and the use of associated WHO and triage tools, with support and guidance from staff of PAHO. This roadmap aims to: introduce decisionmakers in relevant government agencies to the principles underlying the WHO approach; adapt and develop complementary formats of the WHO approach to fit with existing decision-making processes at a national level; and supplement the full WHO tool with a shorter triage tool to increase accessibility and to enable more effective engagement and use in real-life decision-making regarding potential engagements with non-State actors. The publication explains how these aims can be addressed through a three-stage approach. It also contains annexes that cover case studies, workshop agendas, and a triage tool for evaluating potential engagement with non-state actors.