The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Guideline Development Group (GDG) that will contribute to the development or update of WHO Global guidelines on fortification.
This Call for experts provides information about the immediate WHO guidelines to be developed, the role of GDG at WHO, the required profiles of experts, and the application and selection processes.
Background
The Department of Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS), located within the WHO’s UHC/Healthier Populations Division, is addressing the burden of disease from physical, chemical and microbial hazards in food and unhealthy diets, maternal and child malnutrition, overweight and obesity. The Department aims to ensure universal access to safe, sufficient nutritious food and effective nutrition actions, through setting science-based international food standards, promoting nutrition action in health systems, fostering sustainable food production and consumption, improving food environments and empowering consumers in all situations, monitoring nutrition status, and managing food safety events at the international level, closely working with Member States, UN partner agencies and non-State actors.
Fortification of staple foods and/or condiments with micronutrients is a well-established and proven food-based intervention to address micronutrient deficiencies. In the last decade WHO has worked in fortification, publishing several fortification guidelines within general and specific population groups, and using different food vehicles. Recommendations for the effectiveness and safety of food fortification with different micronutrients have recently been published for wheat flour, maize flour, salt and rice. However, there is no current WHO guidance for the fortification of edible oils, sugars and condiments.
Guided by the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development, NFS is initiating the process to develop guidelines for the fortification of edible oils and fats with Vitamin and D as a public health intervention and will continue with other food vehicles as needed.
Role of the Guideline Development Group (GDG)
GDG members will be appointed for two years. The GDG will support WHO in:
- Providing input into the scope of the guideline and in the development of key questions in PICO (Population, Intervention or Exposure, Comparison, Outcome) format;
- Choosing and ranking priority outcomes;
- Examining the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence profiles or other assessments of the quality of the evidence used to inform the recommendations and provide input;
- Formulating recommendations, including direction and strength;
- Reviewing the preliminary version of the recommendations in the guideline document before submission for WHO executive clearance process for publication and further dissemination.
Planned GDG meetings will take place to prepare priority questions for recommendations, review the evidence and make recommendations. The GDG will advise WHO on the direction and strength of each of the draft recommendations, explicitly taking into consideration factors of human rights and sociocultural adaptability, societal implications, equality and non-discrimination, economic considerations, feasibility and health system considerations, certainty (or quality) of the evidence and balance of benefit and harms. They will also consider issues on guideline implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge gaps.
It is expected that the GDG will meet twice a year, virtually or in-person:
- First meeting is expected to be scheduled in July 2022 with the objective of introducing the guideline development process, reviewing, and ranking the PICO questions for fortification of edible oils and fats.
- Second meeting is expected to be scheduled in December 2022 with the objective of developing recommendations based on the findings of the evidence profiles and implementation considerations
The working language of the meetings will be English.
Eligibility criteria for potential Guideline Development Group members (GDG)
The GDG will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience in fortification and food system interventions for improved public health. WHO welcomes expressions of interest from (but not limited to):
- Relevant technical experts with professional experience and scientific excellence evidenced by publications in peer-reviewed journals in the areas of food fortification, nutrition, and food systems.
- End-users who will adopt, adapt and implement the guideline, including:
- Public health professionals
- Health professionals, including providers at the primary, secondary and tertiary health care setting
- Programme managers
- Representatives of groups most affected by this guideline
- Relevant technical experts with experience in:
- Chemistry and technology of edible oils and fats
- Medical experts specializing in non-communicable diseases
- Micronutrient status assessment at population level including for vitamin A and D in laboratory settings
- Other technical experts, such as:
- Experts on ethics, equity, human rights and gender in public health
- Health economists
- Epidemiologists
- Food scientist/technologists
- Experts on processes and methods for developing evidence-based guidelines
While members with experience in WHO guideline development processes would be desirable, we encourage participation from experts who have not participated in guideline development process but have strong expertise in context of this call.
All GDG 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. No honoraria will be provided to any GDG members for their services or otherwise.
As per WHO handbook for guideline development1, representatives of commercial organizations cannot serve as members of a GDG.
Submitting your application
To register your interest in being considered for above-mentioned Guideline Development Group, please submit your application by Friday 17 June 2022 by email, to foodsystems@who.int with the subject “GDG Fortification”.
You will need to submit the following documents:
- A cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply
- Your curriculum vitae (including education background, relevant work experience, and relevant peer-reviewed publications)
- A completed Declaration of Interest form for WHO Experts, which can be downloaded here
After you have submitted your interest, your application will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only shortlisted individuals will be informed. All submitted documents form non-selected candidates will be kept on record for one year and deleted afterwards.
Selection processes
Each curriculum vitae will be reviewed to assess whether the applicant meets the qualifications and has relevant expertise in the subject matter areas listed above. Declaration of Interest forms will be reviewed.2 Any potential or perceived conflicts of interest based on the declared information in the Declaration of Interests form will be considered in the selection process.
The selection of members of the GDGs will be based on the following criteria: technical expertise, experience in international and country policy work, and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations. The selection of GDG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, and for gender diversity.
Prior to the formal appointment, WHO will publish the names and a short biography of the shortlisted individuals on the WHO internet and call for comments so as to ensure there are no perceived conflicts of interest that may have been missed during the selection process.
2 GDG members should have no significant academic or financial conflict of interest that would impair their neutrality, independence or objectivity in the guideline development process.