In a study published in The Lancet on Tuesday, the World Health Organization is accused of carrying out guidelines lacking basic evidence.

The medical journal arrived at the conclusion that too often evidence is not included to support guidelines.
The Lancet study – conducted in 2003-04 through analyzing WHO guidelines and questioning WHO officials – found what they termed a “non-transparent process” in the production of guidelines.
WHO's director of research policy, Dr Tikki Pang, said that some of his colleagues were shocked by the study, but he acknowledged the criticism had merit. Time pressures and a lack of information and money sometimes compromised WHO work he explained.
In defence of their work, WHO officials also noted that, in many cases, evidence simply did not exist or were patchy, especially in developing countries. To address the problem, WHO is trying to develop new ways to collect information in poor regions, and has proposed establishing a committee to oversee the issuance of all health guidelines. Officials also see the study as an opportunity to reinvent WHO “as the technical agency it was always meant to be.”