The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC). 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 Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 (GTS), endorsed by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2015 and re-approved by the WHA in 2021, reiterates the vision of a world free of malaria. The GTS sets specific goals for malaria elimination and for prevention of re-establishment of transmission: at least 20 countries and 35 countries in which malaria was transmitted in 2015 should eliminate malaria from countries by 2025 and by 2030, respectively and all countries that are malaria-free should prevent re-establishment of transmission. Certification of malaria elimination is a mandate of WHO given by its Member States and is granted by WHO to a country, further to a request from its government, after it has been proven that the criteria for certification are met. It requires proof of malaria elimination which is local mosquito-borne malaria transmission has been interrupted in the country, resulting in zero indigenous malaria cases for at least the past 3 consecutive years, and evidence that an adequate programme for the prevention of re-establishment of transmission is in place.
The Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) has been constituted to provide independent advice to the WHO Global Malaria Programme (WHO/GMP) for the development of policy recommendations for the control and elimination of malaria. The mandate of MPAG is to provide strategic advice and technical input aligned with the GTS as part of a transparent, responsive and credible policy-setting process, and extends to all aspects of malaria control and elimination.
In addition to MPAG, standing advisory groups have been established to provide WHO/GMP with advice within specific technical areas. As one of these advisory groups and following the revision of the WHO process for certification of national malaria elimination in 2017, MPAG recommended establishment of a Malaria Elimination Certification Panel, renamed Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC) on 8 June 2022. The TAG-MEC will act as an advisory body to WHO in malaria-free certification, malaria elimination and prevention of re-establishment of transmission.
Functions of the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC)
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the TAG-MEC shall have the following functions:
- Provide independent evaluation and advise WHO whether a country could be certified as malaria-free based on WHO criteria or certification should be postponed. The TAG-MEC shall conduct the following activities: i) Evaluate the submitted country documentation and national elimination reports; ii) Conduct country assessments and certification missions to verify the findings in the national elimination report, prepare a final evaluation report based on the field visits and submit it to WHO; iii) Review and provide comments on the final evaluation report.
- Review the data from countries that are certified malaria-free on an annual basis and advise WHO whether a country should be de-certified based on the WHO criteria.
- Provide support to WHO to resolve bottlenecks for malaria elimination at country, regional and global levels.
- Provide advice to WHO on areas where new or improved policy recommendations or implementation guidance may be required from WHO.
- Provide other support and advice to WHO in the field of malaria elimination and prevention of re-establishment of transmission.
→ See the Terms of reference
Operations of the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC)
The TAG-MEC shall normally meet at least once each year outside country-specific certification work, for 2 days normally, in person at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO or virtually, via video or teleconference. The working language of the group will be English.
The TAG-MEC may decide to establish smaller working groups (sub-groups of the TAG-MEC) to work on specific issues, including but not limited to country assessments or other certification missions (requiring travels and country work for 10 or days in most cases) as described under the previous section. Their deliberations shall take place via teleconference or videoconference.
Who can express interest?
The Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to malaria elimination, prevention of re-establishment and malaria-free certification. Up to 18 members may be selected.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from public health experts with knowledge about/experience in malaria elimination, prevention of re-establishment and one or more of the following areas:
- entomology,
- epidemiology,
- medical parasitology,
- tropical medicine,
- laboratory science,
- vector biology and control,
- health and information systems,
- other specialized areas of public health such as programme management.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC), please submit the following documents by 14 July 2022, 23:59 CET to bergeronl@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC)”:
- A completed application form;
- A cover letter (maximum 2 pages), 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 (CV) (maximum 5 pages); and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.
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.
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 TAG-MEC page.
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 bergeronl@who.int well before the applicable deadline.