Papers / Posters

Guidelines for the preparation of WHO-FIC meeting documents
Documents for the WHO-FIC meetings are prepared under the responsibility of WHO. They are proposed by the respective authors in form of poster or papers in accordance with the particular instructions and timelines provided with the invitation letter and listed below.

Posters and papers are screened for relevance to the meeting by WHO. Their assessment may include suggestions to shorten, refocus or otherwise revise the paper, as appropriate for the purpose of the meeting. Posters will be displayed on poster panels during the meeting and some will be selected by WHO and the SEG for presentation in the plenary poster sessions. Papers can be submitted to Committees and Reference Groups. Their chairs in coordination with the WHO Secretariat will review and select papers for referencing or presentation in their respective committee or reference group.

Document posting
Accepted posters and papers will not normally be distributed in paper format. They will be posted on the meeting web site in PDF format, to be freely downloaded by participants. The documents posted on the web site are considered the reference versions.

Version control
In case of successive versions, the version number and version date is printed in the footer of the document on all pages.

Document preparation
Documents must be prepared under MS-Word® or MS PPT® and comply with a number of criteria:

  • All submissions must use the corresponding templates, either for documents or for posters (see below) and be equipped with the proper document management parameters.
  • Papers must have maximum length of 5 pages (excl. abstract and title), in order to enable participants to read your paper messages.
  • Data, detailed analysis, extended developments, bibliographies and other lengthy materials may be provided in an annex.
  • A document profile and abstract with a maximum of 400 characters must be provided using the respective template.
  • The title should have a maximum of 160 characters.
  • Tables, graphs and pictures and other illustrative materials may be included in the text. They may be linked to the source while the document is under development, but they should be de-linked before submission. Pictures must be in the JPG format. When more than one picture or table are used, please include a caption with automatic caption numbering.

Template for Papers The template is unique for all papers. General layout, font type and size, heading definitions headers and footers may not be modified. A number of document properties parameters must be set before submitting the document. They will ensure consistency throughout the document.

To set the document properties parameters right:

  • Open the "General document template.doc" which may be downloaded from the WHO web site for classifications at http://www.who.int/classifications/network/meeting2011/en
  • In the File>Properties menu, select the Summary tab. Fill in the fields for title, author(s): use title or author texts exactly as you would like them to appear in the final document.
  • Do not modify the pagination nor remove page or section breaks.

Template for posters The poster template is the same for all posters. It may be downloaded as WHOFIC2011 - Poster template A0.ppt from the link above. The posters have a standard size of DIN A0.

The editorial board will decide whether some papers may preferably be presented as posters. Posters will be presented by the authors during two extended lunch breaks.

Submission procedure

  • All papers and posters for the conference must be pre-submitted with title, abstract and profile by 30 June.
  • The final, complete version must be submitted by 5 September.
  • The poster abstracts and the final versions of posters for print are submitted to the WHO Secretariat i.e. lameyrea@who.int
  • Paper abstract and the final versions of the papers are submitted to the chairs of the relevant committee or reference group and cc to the WHO Secretariat i.e. lameyrea@who.int

All submissions whether in title-and-abstract form or in final form must be accompanied by the document profile form, to be downloaded from the WHO meeting web site.

All texts will be part of the meeting documentation. They will be made available only in PDF format from the WHO meeting web site only, with an adequate disclaimer (no WHO endorsement of papers).

For cost containment reasons, paper copies will not normally be provided to the meeting. Participants are welcome to print their own personal copies before attending the meeting. Printouts may be requested on site at user's expenses during the meeting.