Closed call
Issued: 20 April 2022
Deadline: WHO encourages diversity in expert advisory groups. Therefore, this call was extended to ensure multidisciplinary global participation in the STAG MEDEV. The call ends 17 May 2022.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members one of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV). This “Call for experts” provides information about the advisory group in question,
the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Background
The STAG MEDEV will act as an advisory body to WHO on matters of global policies and strategies related to medical devices and related health technologies, and will advise WHO on global priorities and emerging issues. WHO requires a Strategic Technical Advisory Group of Experts for medical devices to act as an Advisory Group to WHO.
Medical devices include thousands of types of medical technologies which purposes include protection, prevention, diagnostic, treatment, monitoring, and palliation. They are used along the health care system from primary health care level to specialize care. They range from surgical masks to complex radiotherapy equipment. Their value chain include manufacturing, regulation, selection, assessment and management that involve procurement, supply, training, maintenance, safe use and decommissioning.
The WHO medical devices team has published 49 publications during the last 13 years on the value chain process, innovation and technical specifications. The process publications include on development of policies, regulation, donations, procurement.
The team also has developed an evidence- based methodology to select the WHO Priority Medical Devices List (including 1500+ devices). Such list is in continuous expansion to address different health conditions and has been adapted to an online database “MeDevIS”.
WHO has developed country profiles on the status quo of medical devices published in the Global Atlas of Medical Devices. The Atlas is updated every 5 years to distinguish the status of policies, regulation, and management in MoH entities.
WHO has 7 Collaborating centers and 8 NGOs in official relations on matters related to medical devices.
For the development of each WHO publication, experts are convened depending on the subject matter, in particular for the selection of WHO list of Priority Medical Devices. An ad-hoc technical advisory group of experts was selected for defined topics such as: cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, COVID-19 and personal protective equipment. Nevertheless, a Strategic Advisory group is required to better advise WHO.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more attention has been brought to the urgent need to increase access to medical devices to support outbreaks, and to support essential health care services and the realization of the Universal Health Coverage.
Member States have requested WHO to have expert strategic or advisory groups in their statements during the Executive Board, particularly since the discussions of the medical device’s nomenclature. EB145/3, EB148/13 and WHA74 and EB150/14.
The call and upcoming availability of a WHO STAG MEDEV will be an important contribution towards the requests made by Member States, toward the sustainability, expansion and impact of the WHO medical devices effort towards the GPW13 on Universal Health Coverage, outbreak response and well-being of population.
Functions of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV)
- To identify and describe current and future challenges relative to medical devices and related health technologies, to support the work of WHO with Member States towards reaching the relevant Sustainable Development Goals target;
- To provide technical advice to WHO on global policies and strategies on medical devices and their linkages with other health systems elements, to support Universal Health Coverage and Global Public Health Security;
- To advise WHO on the adequacy of progress towards the achievement of Medical Devices related objectives set in the World Health Assembly resolutions;
- To provide independent evaluation of the scientific technical and strategic aspects of access to good quality, affordable, appropriate, safe and efficacious medical devices;
- To provide strategic advice to WHO on the development, update and implementation of the WHO Priority and Essential Medical Devices Lists, in line with the work of other WHO Expert Groups and Committees;
- To advise WHO on devising strategies for investment on appropriate priority medical technologies for primary health care;
- To advise WHO on strategies for increased access to medical devices for early diagnosis, effective treatment, continuous monitoring and protection.
- To recommend priorities within the Organization and/or relevant technical unit related to the field of work of STAG-MEDEV;
- To advise WHO on strategic directions to be prioritized on all types of medical devices; and
- To review and make recommendations to WHO on issues related to medical devices process as: policies, naming, innovation, selection, regulation, management, safe use until decommissioning.
Operations of STAG MEDEV
- The STAG MEDEV shall normally meet at least twice each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings virtually. STAG MEDEV meetings may be held in person (2 or 3 days at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO)
or virtually, via video or teleconference.AG meetings may be held in open and/or closed session, as decided by the Chairperson in consultation with WHO. (a) Open sessions: Open sessions shall be convened for the sole purpose
of the exchange of non-confidential information and views and may be attended by Observers (as defined in paragraph 3 below). (b) Closed sessions: The sessions dealing with the formulation of recommendations and/or advice to
WHO shall be restricted to the members of the STAG MEDEV and essential WHO Secretariat staff.
- The quorum for STAG MEDEV meetings shall be two thirds of the members.
- WHO may, at its sole discretion, invite external individuals from time to time to attend the open sessions of an advisory group, or parts thereof, as “observers”. Observers may be invited either in their personal capacity, or as representatives from a governmental institution / intergovernmental organization, or from a non-state actor. WHO will request observers invited in their personal capacity to complete a confidentiality undertaking and a declaration of interests form prior to attending a session of the advisory group. At the invitation of the Chairperson, observers may be asked to present their personal views and/or the policies of their organization. Observers will not participate in the process of adopting decisions and recommendations of the STAG MEDEV.
- The STAG MEDEV may decide to establish smaller working groups (sub-groups of the AG) to work on specific issues. Their deliberations shall take place via teleconference or video-conference. For these sub-groups, no quorum requirement will apply; the outcome of their deliberations will be submitted to the AG for review at one of its meetings.
- STAG MEDEV members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the STAG MEDEV.
- Interim monthly teleconferences may be required of the members.
- The working language of the group will be English.
Who can express interest?
The Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG-MEDEV), will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to medical devices and related health technologies. Approximately 20 to 30 members will be selected.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from: scientists, healthcare professionals, healthcare policy makers other professionals with expertise the areas below.
- Access to appropriate, affordable, acceptable, safe and good quality medical technologies for low resource settings;
- Access to medical devices for: diagnostics (including imaging, and specialized diagnostics), surgery and other devices for treatment, monitoring and intensive and palliative care for all health care disciplines;
- Access to medical devices for emergencies and outbreaks;
- Access to priority medical devices lists for procurement and reimbursement;
- Access to personal protective equipment (PPE);
- Development, assessment and use of innovative medical technologies;
- Development of policies on medical devices and related health technologies;
- Ethics, equity, human rights and gender in public health;
- Health systems and programme delivery;
- Health technology assessment;
- Health technology management;
- Human resources for medical devices;
- Nomenclature, classification, and coding of medical devices and unique device identifier;
- Pricing, needs estimation and facility assessment of medical devices;
- Regulation of medical devices;
- Standards (International and national);
- Technology transfer and local production.
In the selection of the STAG MEDEV members, consideration shall be given to attaining an adequate distribution of technical expertise, geographical representation and gender balance. WHO consultants cannot be members WHO STAG MEDEV, however they can be engaged by the WHO Secretariat to assist with the preparation of documents for discussion, collaborate in the drafting of reports, etc.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV), please submit the following documents by 17 of May 2022, 24:00h CET (midnight) Geneva time to medicaldevices@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV)":
- A cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria. Please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity. Therefore do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer);
- Your curriculum vitae; and
- A signed and completed WHO declaration of interests (DOI) form.
- And submit your information in the 2022 STAG-MEDEV Survey.
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed. The final list of members will be publish in the WHO medical devices website.
Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment
Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of a AG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat to enable WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant AG.
The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations .The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of a AG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest , to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.
WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet.AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of AG members to participate in AG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to medicaldevices@who.int well before the applicable deadline (17 May 2022).
Related links:
- WHO medical devices
- WHO Prioritizing medical devices
- Terms of Reference for WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV)
- WHO declaration of interests (DOI) form
- Guidance to Experts in Connection with the Completion of WHO DOI Forms
- 2022 STAG MEDEV survey
- WHO Advisory groups