MONICA Manual, Part I, Section 2: Organization and Management of the WHO MONICA Project

Amendment 1: Management of the MONICA Project

April 2004

After publication of the main results of the MONICA Project, it was thought necessary to revise the way MONICA is managed. Following the response of the Principal Investigators (PI) to MONICA Memo 394E in May 2002, the MONICA Steering Committee concluded that there was agreement on the following changes. It was also agreed that the MONICA Manual will not be revised, but the changes will be included as amendments to the Manual. To the extent of this amendment, parts of the MONICA Manual, although of historical relevance, will be superseded and no longer valid after March 2004.

1. Ownership of the MONICA name and logo

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO MONICA Project Investigators will together retain the ownership of the MONICA name and logo.

2. Ongoing contact and decision-making mechanisms

MONICA Management Centre at the WHO Headquarter in Geneva is replaced by a contact person for MONICA-related matters. His or her tasks are mainly to deal with MONICA-WHO interactions and to direct people who are interested in MONICA to the right persons.

MONICA Data Centre is replaced by a contact person at KTL, Helsinki, with the task of co-ordinating data issues.

A long-term MONICA Steering Committee (MSC) with five members was elected by the MONICA PIs to serve for a period of five years, starting on 1st January 2003. The members of the MSC may within themselves elect a chairman and a rapporteur. Contact persons at WHO and KTL serve as ex officio members of the MSC.

After the 5-year term, the MSC will decide whether or not there is a need for a prolongation of its mandate. The responsibilities of the MSC are:

To carry forward the work of the Project on behalf of the PIs.
To propose changes to the MONICA Manual whenever necessary.
To assist WHO and KTL in the management and administration of the Project.
To raise funds for its own activities.
To keep the PIs and MQCs informed on the current management of the Project. A major task will be to co-ordinate the network of former MCCs (WHO MONICA Collaboration) and to edit the network website.
To promote and develop guiding principles for future international collaborative research arising from the MONICA Project or from the collaboration of MCCs (but not necessarily confined to them).

It is anticipated that most communication within the MSC in future will be by e-mail.

3. Ownership of the MONICA collaborative data

The WHO MONICA Project Investigators and the MQCs retain the formal ownership of the MONICA collaborative data. The PIs retain the right to take major decisions concerning ownership and use of the MONICA collaborative data. The MONICA Steering Committee may delegate the contact person at KTL to deal with practical issues concerning access to the data.

4. Storage of the MONICA database and other material

As decided earlier, a copy of the database will be kept at KTL and WHO (see http://www.ktl.fi/monica/internal/archive_root/archive.htm).

5. Access to the collaborative data - who and how?

The MSC has the task of encouraging use, and preventing misuse, of the collaborative data, which has now been made available to all MONICA Collaborating Centres, under agreed rules (see Publication Policy). A random sample (20%) of most data from most centres was placed in the public domain with the publication of the MONICA Monograph and Multimedia Sourcebook and its accompanying CD-ROMs in 2003.

The MSC will decide if and when to propose that the current restrictions on use and access to the Basic Analysis Data Set of the MONICA Archive (which includes all primary data) should be relaxed. This could be done by placing it completely in the public domain or by licensing its use to specified groups of users. Individual PIs retain the right to decide on access to data from their own MCCs. They will be consulted and their agreement sought before any change is made to the rules on use and access to the data.