These guidelines were produced by the Management of Substance Abuse unit of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in collaboration with the WHO HIV Department. Vladimir Poznyak and Nicolas Clark coordinated the development of these guidelines under the direction of Shekhar Saxena and in collaboration with Rachel Baggaley and Annette Verster. Members of the project’s WHO Steering Group included: Annabel Badderley, Rachel Baggaley, Nicolas Clark, Selma Khamassi, Elizabeth Mathai, Maggie Peden, Vladimir Poznyak, and Annette Verster (see Annex 7 for affiliations). The members of the project’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) were: Robert Balster (Chair), Barbara Broers, Jane Buxton, Paul Dietze, Kirsten Horsburgh, Raka Jain, Nadeem Ullah Khan, Walter Kloeck, Emran M Razaghi, Hendry Robert Sawe, John Strang, and Oanh Thi Hai Khuat (see Annex 7 for affiliations).

Observers at the Guideline Development Group meeting in Geneva in February 2014, who provided comments and technical information, were: Anja Busse (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), David Sugerman (Centres for Disease Control, USA), Regis Bedry (European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists), Marica Ferri (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction), Mauro Guarinieri (the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), Sharon Stancliff (Harm Reduction Association, USA), Marc Augsburger (The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists), Ruth Birgin (International Network of People who Use Drugs), Hannu Alho (International Society of Addiction Medicine), Simon Lenton (National Drug Research Institute, Australia), Steven Gust (National Institute on Drug Abuse, USA), Daniel Wolfe (Open Society Foundations), H. Westley Clark (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, USA).

WHO would like to acknowledge the contributions made by the following individuals to the development of these guidelines: Consultants: Margaret Harris advised on WHO guideline methodology, including use of GRADE, at the guideline development meeting and assisted with preparation of the final guideline document. Mary Henderson conducted the in-depth survey on the values and preferences of key informants. Cadi Irvine, an HIV consultant, assisted with the preparation of background material. Caitlin Kennedy advised on initial methodology and assisted in the development of the systematic review protocol. Nandi Siegfried assisted with study selection (as a reviewer) and preparation of GRADE evidence profiles.

Nick Walsh developed the background documentation for the GDG meeting and the systematic review protocol. He also conducted the systematic reviews, presented the findings to the GDG, wrote the first draft of the guidance and assisted with preparation of the final guideline document. Anna Williams and Rebecca McDonald assisted with the preparation of background documentation. WHO staff: Tomas Allen (WHO library) assisted with the development and conduct of the literature search.

WHO interns: Agata Boldys (Management of Substance Abuse unit) assisted with the organization of the meeting and the preparation of background documents. Sally Cruse (Management of Substance Abuse unit) assisted with the external and peer-review process and the preparation of the guideline document. Pramudie Gunaratne (HIV Department) assisted with the values-and-preferences survey. Funding: WHO gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Norway and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for the production of these guidelines.