Hi Waysers, I received this recent analysis of topical health research issues. Please read and share your Comments.

Health research for development is dependent on cooperation and trust among international agencies, the health research community, publishers and other stakeholders. According to an editorial in this week's Lancet
[1], WHO and UNICEF are "appearing to manipulate science, breach trust... and reject accountability". They are "willing to play fast and loose with
scientific findings in order to further their own institutional
interests".

The charge is based on press releases from WHO and UNICEF, respectively, that pre-empted the publication of two important papers in the current issue of The Lancet.

The first Lancet paper, by Greg Fegan et al [2], reports the success of an expanded insecticide-treated bednet programme in Kenya: "The full paper reveals the strengths and limitations of the study, and provides important estimates of uncertainty. No such statistical caution was expressed in the WHO statement [3] about these data, released on Aug 16."

Furthermore, the editorial suggests a breach of trust by WHO: "In early August, the Kenyan team and WHO exchanged views about the results of this
trial 'on a confidential basis'. The investigators expected Ministry officials to disseminate their findings. But the scientific team planned
to remain silent until their data had acquired the 'legitimacy' of publication. They had WHO's agreement to do the same. But WHO broke its
promise. The agency released a confident press statement without even having the courtesy to inform the Kenyan scientists of their plans."

The second paper, by Chris Murray et al [4], reports a decrease in child mortality to 9.7 million deaths per year, but its sobering analysis concludes that 'globally, we are not doing a better job of reducing child mortality now than we were three decades ago", and predicts that by 2015, we shall have achieved only a 27% reduction in child mortality since 1990,
substantially less than the MDG4 target of 67%.

The Lancet says that on 4th September it had sent Murray's paper to UNICEF for its comments. Six days later, "UNICEF contacted selected journalists
about 'a major public health success'. For the first time UNICEF strongly publicised its claim that annual under-5 child deaths had fallen below 10 million." [5]

The Lancet concludes: "WHO and UNICEF are acting contrary to responsible scientific norms that one would have expected UN technical agencies to uphold. Worse, they risk inadvertently corroding their own long-term
credibility."

This editorial raises a number of complex questions about communication and collaboration among stakeholders, and a more specific question about research communication: In what circumstances is it acceptable to publish a press release prior to a related scholarly publication?

The Lancet seems in no doubt: "When the data and their interpretation are more complex than a press release can convey, the sensible approach is to wait."

SOURCE: From Neil Pakenham-Walsh Co-moderator, HIF-net

[1]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...
[free access]

[2]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...
[free access]

[3] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr43/en/index....
[free access]

[4]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...

[free access]

[5] http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40855.html [free access]