The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Guideline Development Group for a WHO Guideline on Contact Tracing (the “GDG on Contact Tracing”).
Historically, contact tracing has suffered from a lack of a real “home” in public health and relies on the work of professionals and citizens from diverse backgrounds, including public health and laboratory staff, digital experts, anthropologists, ethicists, risk communication and community engagement specialists, community leaders and community health workers. With its components dissipated across disciplines, it rarely receives sufficient attention in outbreak preparedness and response activities, yet it remains a critical component of public health response. Furthermore, the need for more guidance and standard operating procedures for the set-up and scaling contact tracing has been stressed at many forums, including during the June 2020 consultation organized by the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) .
To address this need, WHO is in the process of developing a WHO Guideline on Contact Tracing. The envisaged product will be the first global policy resource from WHO with an explicit focus on evidence-based methodology of contact tracing, with specific considerations for how it should be adapted in certain settings and epidemiological scenarios.
The Expression of Interest guidance found at this link below provides more information about the rationale for this guideline, the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
We invite submissions from relevant technical experts across domains such as: infectious disease, field epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, community engagement, health workforce, public health policy, financing/economics, operational research,
scientific communication; experts on ethics, equity human rights and gender in public health; as well as from end-users who will adopt, adapt and implement this contact tracing guideline, including local, national and international public health stakeholders.
We look forward to your submissions of interest no later than Sunday 12 March 2023 17:00 Geneva time (CET). Expressions of interest should be sent by email to Marie-Amélie Degail and Sara Hollis (degailm@who.int; holliss@who.int) using the subject line “Expression of interest for GDG on Contact Tracing.”