Objectives of the recommendations

5 of the sessions. Participants who had recent or current research funding or personal payments from commercial entities on topics related to the meeting were excluded from voting on inal ratiication the recommendations. he following declarations of interest by members were assessed and found to be insuicient to exclude from full participation: n Fizan Abdullah declared research grants from NIH for necrotizing enterocolitis; n Shinjini Bhatnagar declared research funding for projects related to the topic of the meeting; n Harry Campbell declared making public statements for international action against pneumonia; n Trevor Duke declared completing systematic reviews related to the subject of the meeting; n Michael English declared research grants from the Wellcome Trust, the Gates Foundation, the Royal College for Paediatrics and Child Health RCPCH, and the Hillman Medical Education Fund HMEF on topics related to this meeting; n Andrew Gray declared receiving honorarium and travel support from Aspen pharmaceuticals and Fresenius Kabi South Africa as a guest speaker, in 2009; n Stuart Macleod declared being a director, which ceased in 2010, of an institution that received research grants with no direct involvement from several commercial and non-commercial entities. he following members were excluded from inal ratiication of the recommendations: n Haroon Saloojee received personal payments from the National Institute of Health US 3000, was an advisory board member on rotavirus project of GlaxoSmith- Kline in 2008, as well as personal payment by Nestle Nutrition US 2500; n Leonila Dans declared a current research grant not related to the topic of the meeting from Pizer with personal payments of about US 2000year in 2010.

1.5 Guiding principles

he principles guiding the development of these recommendations were based on providing optimal public health guidance using the best available evidence in the management of common childhood conditions in settings with limited resources. he guiding principles are as follows: n Prioritize and optimize the best options for treatment of common childhood illnesses to improve quality of care in hospitals in low-resource settings. n Promote best practices based on a high quality level of evidence supporting strong recommendations in order to deliver the highest standards of care despite limited resources. n Analyse and balance the beneits, risks, and feasibility of implementation of the recommendations in hospitals with limited resources. n Build consensus among experts on recommendations in situations where there is very low quality or no supporting evidence.