The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing an online expert consultation among the members of the Steering Group (SG), which was convened by WHO in 2016 in response to the spread of the Zika virus and again in 2018 when it was recognized that guidance on aircraft disinsection methods and procedures was required.
The first edition of the WHO aircraft disinsection methods and procedures was published in 2021 to address the first requirement. The guideline was last updated in 2023 based on the feedback received from various stakeholders.
The SG comprises WHO and relevant United Nations (UN) staff with expertise in the technical areas of infectious diseases, vector control, aircraft disinsection, International Health Regulations, health systems, international travel and border health, international migration, and occupational health, as well as WHO regional office representatives.
Here below the list of experts and their short biographies:
Guideline Development Group members biographies
Abderrahim Rachdi
Biography
Abderrahim RACHDI is an epidemiologist and specialist in Environmental health. He is the head of health control Service at the ports of Tangier Med and Tangier City and he is Regional Coordinator of control Health in Region Nord of Morocco.
Member of National Committee of International Health Regulation in Morocco and Member of Local safety and security Committees at the ports of Tangier Med and Tangier City. He is also WHO ship sanitation control consultant.
Andrea K. Boggild
Biography
Dr Andrea K. Boggild is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Medical Director of the Tropical Disease Unit of Toronto General Hospital. She is a licensed Medical Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases physician with additional certifications in Tropical Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, who provides care to patients with travel-acquired illnesses in her medical practice. As a Clinician Scientist in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, she has graduate supervisory privileges through the Institute of Medical Science and leads a research program in tropical medicine and travel and migration health.
Ashani Kumar
Biography
Dr Ashwani Kumar is a Professor, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Global Collaborations) and scientific advisor to the Chancellor of Saveetha University (NAAC A++ and NIRF 2024 Rank 11), Thandalam, Chennai-602105, Tamil Nadu, India.
Dr Ashwani Kumar is the former Scientist-G at the National Institute of Malaria Research, Goa and Director of ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC), Puducherry, India and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, USA and A Professor at Saveetha University. He is a Gold Medalist, a PhD and elected Fellow of the Punjab Academy of Sciences in 2018. Earlier, a recipient of the INSA-Royal Society Fellowship and visited LSHTM.
Dr Kumar has rich research experience spanning 37 years in the field of vector-borne diseases and handled over 200 national and international projects covering basic, applied, operational and implementational aspects of VBDs. He was Director-In-Charge of the National Animal Research Facility for Biomedical Research, Hyderabad, India. He has 35 years of experience in Administration. Dr Kumar is the President of the Society for Vector Ecology (SOVE) USA Indian Chapter.
He was trained overseas at the LSHTM, UK, the German Centre of Biotechnology, Braunschweig, on Methods of Malaria Burden Estimation by WHO in Myanmar, the IS Global and Barcelona University-organized Course on Science of Malaria Eradication in Barcelona, and the Advanced Course on Managing the End of Malaria in Sitges, Spain. He was invited to witness vector control operations in three California counties in the USA.
Dr. Kumar guided 15 Ph.D. scholars. He has 205 research articles (H-Index 32; Citations-3274; i10 index: 55) and is a reviewer of Journals of National and International repute including the Lancet, Genome Research, Journal of Infectious Diseases, PNAS, Scientific Reports, PLoS NTD, Pathogens, Microorganisms, Malaria Journal, Parasites and Vectors, etc. and 5 granted patents to his credit. He has Written/Edited 4 books including a handbook for WHO “Vector Surveillance and Control at ports, airports and ground crossings” translated in 11 languages and a global reference handbook for guidance.
International assignments: Advisor WHO (2011-2013) ‘Evidence Review Group’ GMP, WHO, Geneva; Advisor WHO (2013-2016) ‘Vector Control Advisory Group’ at the WHO, Geneva; International Expert on Vector Control Tools for Malaria Elimination: IS-GLOBAL and Director (Indian region) Society for Vector Ecology (USA). He served as Advisor to the Regional Director of the WHO South East Asia Region on many occasions. Currently, he is an Advisor for the Health Continuum an NGO in Health Sector. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of the NIH, USA Programme “International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research” (ICEMR) for South East Asia and the Pacific (Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea). Dr Kumar is the Advisor to WHO on the surveillance and disinsection of aircraft, ships and ground transport.
He received 22 awards including the Gold Medal, Outstanding Young Person of the World in 1998 in Manila, distinguished alumni and best innovation award. The Society for Vector Ecology, USA conferred on him a “Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding services for the advancement of Vector Sciences” presented in Hawaii, USA on the 18th of Sept. 2022.
Dr Kumar is instrumental in establishing the International Centre of Excellence for Training in Medical Entomology, at the ICMR-VCRC. He is widely travelled globally and visited 21 countries many of which on several occasions.
Clive M. Brown
Biography
Dr. Brown has been with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over 20 years; currently as the Chief for the Quarantine and Border Health Services in the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine and prior to that as Associate Director for Science in that Division. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica and completed clinical training at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.
After completing his Master’s in Public Health at Columbia University in 1992 and working at CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and doing the CDC Preventive Medicine Fellowship, Dr. Brown worked as PAHO’s Medical Epidemiologist assigned to the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago in 1998, he implemented and evaluated surveillance systems and conducted outbreak investigations in the CAREC member countries.
Dr. Brown has completed a Master of Science in Health Systems Management from the University of London/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from LSHTM.
Dr. Brown worked with the CDC Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch in the National Center for Environmental Health where he helped to start CDC's asthma activities which eventually led to the CDC Asthma Program.
With the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Dr. Brown was also the lead for ensuring an ethical framework relating to the activities taken to control infectious diseases among travelers. He served as the Lead for the Global Migration Task Force as part of CDC’s Ebola Response and is the Lead for the Port of Entry Team for the Traveler’s Health and Global Migration Task Force for CDC’s Zika Virus Response.
As Chief for the Quarantine and Border Health Services Branch, Dr. Brown oversees the 20 quarantine stations in the United States and the teams within the Branch.
As part of implementing a strategic plan to improve efficiencies, Dr. Brown helped to coordinate the transition of the Quarantine Branch into two Branches, the Port Health Protection Branch and the Travel Risk Assessment and Mitigation Branch: Dr. Brown is now the Chief of the Port Health Protection Branch whose mission is to protect the public's health at US borders.
Hubert H. Humphrey
Biography
Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow and US CDC’s Public Health Emergency Management Fellow alumnus; my name is Kokou Nouwame Alinon, and I am from Togolese (West Africa)
I graduated from Emory University with a degree in Public Health policy and Management after my Ph.D. degree in Clinical and Health Psychology from University of Lome. I also hold other certificates in Public Health Surveillance, Public Health Emergency Management and response, and Policy Communication. I have over twenty years of combination experience as a healthcare and a public health Professional.
I am currently working with Africa CDC as the Principal Technical Officer of the Surveillance & Disease Intelligence Division, and I am based in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). At Africa CDC, I play a pivotal role in providing technical support and guidance for the planning, the development, and the implementation of the surveillance division specific policies, programs objectives, strategic plans, annual work plans, resources, and budgets. I support five critical units within the division: Epidemic Intelligence, Health Informatics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, One Health, and Public Health Surveillance. My work is integral to strengthening health-related surveillance systems, thereby enhancing public health decision-making and actions across African Union Member States.
Before joining Africa CDC, I worked with the Ministry of Health in Togo as the lead of the Non-Communicable Diseases Surveillance Division, the National Coordinator of the Palliative Care Program, and a member of a lot of the public health initiative and committee, including emergency preparedness and response. I have been an Associate Professor from the University of Lomé since 2015, and I am an author and co-author of many national and international articles and books.
Givemore Munhenga
Biography
am a South African National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated scientist with over ten years of experience in providing expertise and research in both agriculture and public health. I work as a Principal Medical Scientist with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases holding a joint appointment as a Senior Researcher with the University of the Witwatersrand. I hold a BSC honors in Applied Biology and Biochemistry and a Master's in Tropical Entomology from the University of Zimbabwe. I hold a Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Entomology from the University of the Witwatersrand.
My work portfolio includes giving technical support to National Malaria Control Programs, designing a framework for vector control operations, and developing entomological surveillance tools applicable under low malaria transmission settings. I am leading the assessment of new vector control methods particularly the use of the Sterile Insect Technique against African malaria vectors. I regularly participate in International efforts to develop the Sterile Insect echnique for Malaria and Zika led by the International Atomic Energy Agency. I am a Member of the Pan-African Malaria Control Association and American Mosquito Control Association. I am involved in several academic citizenships that include teaching and supervision of postgraduate students.
Julian Abril
Biography
Julian Abril is the Head of Facilitation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). He joined the IMO in August 2011, and he is the secretariat of the Committee of Facilitation of the IMO. Under his current responsibilities, he has participated in different regional and national technical cooperation activities to promote the ratification of the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, as well as to improve its effective implementation, taking due regard the need of a proper balance between measures to enhance maritime security and measures to facilitate maritime international traffic. He is also participating actively in different IMO projects to assist Member States in the implementation of Maritime Single Windows in their ports.
Prior to the joining to IMO in 2011, he had been sailing as Chief Officer and Officer in charge of navigational watch in tanker ships before he joined the Spanish Maritime Administration in 1992. He has over 30 years of experience in maritime administration on subjects related to safety, security, human factor and facilitation, at national and international level. He holds a Master degree on Merchant Marine from Cadiz University, Spain.
Nadia Noreen
Biography
Nadia Noreen is working as Deputy Director Coordination Ministry of National Health regulations, Services & Coordinations and Focal Person Public Health-IHR & GHSA for Border Health Services dealing with operations at the points of entry (POEs) in Pakistan for border Health Services Pakistan the IHR focal point for Points of entry under Ministry of National Health regulations, Services & Coordinations. Islamabad, Pakistan. Dr Noreen is having Advanced degree in public health and epidemiology and hold a Master's degree in Public Health and advanced postgraduate training in Field Epidemiology (FELTP, US CDC), complemented by an MSc in Field Epidemiology from the University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Additionally, she is a certified alumnus of the Global Partnership Initiated Biosecurity Academia for Controlling Health Threats (GIBACHT), a multidisciplinary program led by the Bernhard Notch Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Berlin, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). This program has equipped her with the knowledge to address the potential threats posed by biological agents and bioweapons and to prevent and control their spread effectively. Moreover, she is a Certified Professional in Biorisk Management by the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA). This academic foundation, combined with her practical experience in leading and managing public health initiatives at both national and local levels, has provided her with a robust technical understanding of infectious diseases, including emerging threats, surveillance, emergency preparedness, and response and outbreak management.
She has broad ranging experience in research, epidemiology, international health regulations and public health administration. She oversee the real-time data reporting through the Traveler’s Surveillance Management Information System (TSMIS) and have been involved in capacity-building initiatives for healthcare workers, further showcasing her technical expertise and leadership abilities. She is the training coordinator for the capacity building and skill development for the quarterly training as part of core capacities strengthening strategy as per IHR 2005. These experiences have honed her leadership, coordination, and communication skills, enabling her to effectively manage multidisciplinary teams and collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders.
She is Focal person National Immunization Management System (NIMS) for POEs for implementation of all age Polio Vaccination and essential vaccination of prophylaxis for travelling. She has been nominated as Focal person for all coordination & response activities of Mpox on behalf of MONHSR&C.
Throughout her career, she have demonstrated progressively responsible work experience in public health and emergency response with a specific focus on infectious disease surveillance, prevention, and control as an epidemiologist . Her roles have involved close coordination with international organizations such as WHO and USAID, and have managed complex relationships across various sectors, including key stakeholders.
She is having vast experience of working in the areas of epidemiology, infectious disease surveillance & response with 16 years’ Experience in managing public health projects in government sector, having technical skills in Epi Info SPSS and Excel, Superior writing, and communication skills. Having twenty seven international publications in international peer reviewed journal and sixty two International conference paper presentations. She is working as peer reviewer for twenty seven international indexed journal. Having good citation score on research gate and publon. Expert in Scientific report writing and analysis with strong written and verbal communication skills with diverse stakeholders. Worked in strengthening public health surveillance, and health systems strengthening. Her research overlaps epidemiology, global health, infectious diseases, One Health, and non-communicable diseases.
Patricia Schlagenhauf
Biography
Patricia Schlagenhauf-Lawlor is a Professor (Travel Medicine), Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Travellers’ Health in Zürich and Scientific Group Leader at the University of Zürich, Switzerland.
She is active in research and is a Scientific Group Leader with a portfolio of grant-driven projects on malaria, infection epidemiology and surveillance, arthropod-borne infections, emerging infections, gender issues in pharmacology and military medicine. She is the Zürich GeoSentinel Site Director and in 2023 was appointed Director of EuroTravNet. She has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers ORCID ID 0000-0002-1075-7010.
Patricia has held several editor roles including European Senior Editor for “The Lancet”, Bulletin WHO and Editor-in-Chief positions at Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease and since 2022 at New Microbes New Infections. After work, she is a passionate golfer.
Qiyong Liu
Biography
Qiyong Liu completed his undergraduate study at the Department of Biology of Shandong University in China. He obtained a Master of Sciences in Public Health and a PhD in climate change and mosquito-borne diseases in Griffith University, Australia. He is the Chief Expert of Vector Control and the Chief Scientist for Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC). He has also served as the head of World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Vector Surveillance and Management based in the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC since 2012. He is the PI for the National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases. As the chief expert of vector control, Dr Liu dedicate in research and practice in vector and vector borne diseases surveillance, alert and response since 1985. As the chief scientist for climate change and health adaptation, Dr Liu coordinated a joint team to assess the health risks of climate change and to research on adaptation strategy and solutions in China and beyond. He has been the director of Shandong University Climate Change and Health Center since 2010. He served as the Lead Author for IPCC AR5 and IPCC AR6. His work has been recognized internationally through more than three hundreds of scientific publications in well-regarded international journals including Lancet, Nature, Nature Communications, PNAS, Infectious Diseases of Poverty, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases and Scientific Reports.
You may find more information about Dr Qiyong Liu by the links as following.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qi-Yong-Liu
https://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/doi/10.46234/ccdcw2020.160
Rajpal Singh Yadav
Biography
Dr Rajpal Singh Yadav is the President of the Academy of Public Health Entomology, India and an Adjunct Professor at Saveetha University, India. From 2009 to 2023, he was a senior staff scientist at the WHO Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Geneva, co-chaired the WHO Joint Action Group on Global Vector Control Response, headed the former WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme and collaborated with many research institutions, university departments and vector-borne disease control programmes on research and insecticide resistance monitoring. He was the WHO focal point in the secretariat of the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management and coordinated the development of WHO guidelines and SOPs on vector control product testing, pesticide management, vector surveillance and control. He also served as a short-term staff at the WHO regional offices in New Delhi and Cairo.
From 1984 to 2008, Dr Yadav occupied many research positions at the ICMR National Institute of Malaria Research in India – the last being the Sr. Deputy Director, before joining WHO in 2009. His work in India and Southeast Asia included research on vector biology and integrated control of malaria, arboviral diseases, and filariasis in many eco-epidemiological systems.
Dr Yadav has received several honours and awards, published over 110 research papers in national and international journals, and serves as a peer reviewer for many scientific journals.
Richard Fairbrother
Biography
Richard Fairbrother is the Director of the Border Health policy team in Health Security and Emergency Management Division of the Interim Australian Center for Disease Control. Among other responsibilities, his team works in close collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to manage Australia’s aircraft disinsection requirements.
Soledad Santini
Biography
Biologist, PhD. in Natural Sciences. Specialised in ecoepidemiology of vector-borne diseases e.g. Chagas, Leishmaniosis, etc. Director of the National Institute of Parasitology ‘Dr. Mario Fatala Chabén’ (INP)-ANLIS, Malbrán - National Ministry of Health and PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Research, Reference Diagnostics, Biological Production and Professional Training in Chagas and other parasitic diseases. Principal Investigator of ANLIS-Malbrán (National Ministry of Health). Independent Researcher CONICET-(Science and Technology). Professor of Vector Biology - Master in Microbiology. ANLIS-UNSAM. Member of the Argentine Network of Health Researchers (RAIIS). Member of the Network of Women in Environmental Dialogue and Network PLATCS.
Varvara A. Mouchtouri
Biography
Varvara Mouchtouri is an Associate Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Director of the Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Thessaly, Greece. She is also Director of the Peripheral Public Health Laboratory of Thessaly and the scientific coordinator of the English-based MSc in Public Health and Maritime Transport. She is currently scientific manager of the HEALTHY SAILING HORIZON EUROPE research and innovation project. In the past, she has been the manager of several European projects related to health and hygiene in the maritime transport sector including SHIPSAN, SHIPSAN TRAINET and SHIPSAN ACT, which were actions of the European Union General Directorate for Health. She was leading the maritime transport work package of the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS Joint Action for preparedness and action at points of entry (Grant Agreement No 801493). She holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in the field of public health on ships and vector borne diseases. She has held positions as a technical officer in WHO headquarters (International Health Regulations Capacity Development at points of entry), and as a researcher at the UK Health Protection Agency. She has 139 scientific publications in peer review journals.
For comments and inquiries regarding the list of potential members of the guidelines development group, please write to vve@who.int with the subject line “Public comments on expert consultation on the effectiveness of disinsection ” with the indication of the name, nature, and contact details of the sender.
The deadline for public comments is Monday 18 November 2024.
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