Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology (TAG-ADE)
Serial nr. 2024/December/190
Issued on: 26 December 2024
Deadline: 26 January 2025 at 24:00h (midnight) Geneva time. EXTENDED DEADLINE
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members one of the Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology (TAG-ADE). 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 World Health Organization (WHO) has an important role in global monitoring of alcohol use and health consequences of alcohol and psychoactive drug use in accordance with its key roles and mandates. The mandate for global monitoring of alcohol consumption, its health consequences and policy responses come from several World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions (WHA58.26, WHA63.13, WHA75.11). The Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 2010 and Global alcohol action plan 2022-2030 highlight monitoring and surveillance as one of the key components for global action, and the global alcohol action plan specifies global targets, indicators and milestones which require regular updates of WHO estimates of alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable disease burden and policy responses. WHO is well-positioned to generate the estimates of disease burden attributable to psychoactive drug use, and contribute to the work of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) with regard to prevalence of drug use in populations and its impact on population health. WHO and UNODC are custodian agencies for global reporting on SDG health target 3.5 that has indicators on alcohol consumption and treatment coverage for substance use disorders. The Technical advisory group on alcohol and drug epidemiology has an important role in fulfilling WHO’s mandate regarding global monitoring of alcohol and drug use and their impact on population health as well as on epidemiological basis of policy and programme responses.
Functions of the Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the AG shall have the following functions:
To provide independent evaluation of the scientific technical and strategic aspects of WHO’s work on alcohol and drug epidemiology, including the estimates of alcohol exposure in populations, estimates of disease burden attributable to alcohol and psychoactive drugs, estimates of treatment coverage and service capacity for substance use disorders, indicators, data collection tools and procedures.
To recommend priorities within the Organization and relevant technical units in this area, including priorities for international research related to alcohol and drug epidemiology;
To advise WHO on planned activities and approaches within this area;
To advise WHO on the development of WHO monitoring activities and information systems for effective collection, analysis and dissemination of the relevant information, and
To review and make recommendations to WHO on the normative and guiding documents and information products within this area.
Operations of the Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology
The AG shall normally meet at least once each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. AG meetings may be held 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
Members of the AG shall be appointed to serve for a period of 2 years and shall be eligible for reappointment. A Chairperson is eligible for reappointment as a member of the AG but is only permitted to serve as Chairperson for one term. AG members are expected to attend meetings. AG members shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the AG or WHO to any third party. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the AG.
Who can express interest?
The AG shall have up to 16 members, who shall serve in their personal capacities to represent the broad range of disciplines relevant to alcohol and drug epidemiology. In the selection of the AG members, consideration shall be given to attaining an adequate distribution of technical expertise, geographical representation and gender balance.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from:
Scientists, healthcare professionals, and healthcare regulators with expertise in the following areas:
- Alcohol and drug epidemiology: Trends in use, health and societal impacts, and evidence-based policy and programmatic responses.
- Prevention and treatment of substance use disorders: Strategies for addressing alcohol and drug dependence.
- Mental health and substance use disorders: Intersections of mental health with alcohol and drug-related challenges.
- Emergency medicine and crisis response: Addressing acute alcohol and drug-related emergencies, including in humanitarian settings.
- Health systems and program delivery: Design, implementation, and evaluation of services for prevention and treatment.
- Public health and community-based prevention: Reducing alcohol and drug use through societal and structural interventions.
- Ethics, equity, and human rights: Addressing stigma, ensuring fairness, and promoting gender-responsive approaches in alcohol and drug policies.
- Surveillance and data science: Monitoring alcohol and drug use patterns and evaluating policy and program impacts.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the TAG-ADE, please fill in the following form by 26 January 2025 at 24:00h (midnight) Geneva time (EXTENDED DEADLINE):
https://extranet.who.int/dataformv6/index.php/919566?lang=en
In the form, you will need to attach:
- Your curriculum vitae (including full contact information and your nationality/ies) 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 internet.
AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Potential 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.
Please submitt your interest here:
https://extranet.who.int/dataformv6/index.php/919566?lang=en
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to Dag Rekve, Senior Technical Officer and Acting Unit Head at rekved@who.int well before the applicable deadline.
For further information please check the web site of the Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours unit at WHO.