Mission of the North American Collaborating Center

Mission

The mission of the WHO Collaborating Center for the Family of International Classifications for North America is to promote the development and use of the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), including the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Problems (ICD), the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), and other derived and related classifications and to contribute to their implementation and improvement.

Terms of Reference for WHO-FIC North American Collaborating Center

A WHO Collaborating Centre for the Family of International Classifications supports WHO in the provision, use, and implementation of meaningful health information standards to provide high-quality and timely information for health planning and monitoring, as in mortality, morbidity, disability, casemix, primary care, quality, patient safety and traditional medicine, in the strive towards best possible health for all peoples.

The specific terms of reference include:

1. Assisting WHO in developing, maintaining and revising the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), in particular the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the International Classification of Health Interventions, and relevant terminological and ontological aspects.
   
2. Supporting global work with active participation in Committees, as for Education & Implementation, Update & Revision, Informatics & Terminology, and Family Development and Reference Groups, as for Mortality, Morbidity, Functioning & Disability that assist WHO in the development, testing, implementation, use, improvement, updating and revision of members of the WHO-FIC.
3. Collaborating with local and regional users of classifications by networking and providing support; disseminating information about the WHO-FIC and other health-related classifications, regarding the availability, suitability and applicability of the classifications for different purposes, as reporting and coding, availability of tools for implementation, data analysis, and interpretation, in coordination with WHO, as appropriate. Reporting to WHO on these efforts on an annual basis.
4. Promoting use of the WHO-FIC; developing, formulating and sharing teaching materials, as appropriate; organizing and conducting local, regional and global training courses, as resources permit, and translating international WHO-FIC materials to the relevant language for local use, as appropriate, in coordination with WHO. Reporting to WHO on these efforts on an annual basis.
5. Improving the level and quality of implementation of WHO classifications, supporting quality assurance procedures of the WHO-FIC classifications regarding mechanisms, norms and standards of classification use, data collection, and data analysis, in coordination with WHO, as appropriate. Reporting to WHO on these efforts on an annual basis