The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Universal Health and Preparedness Review Technical Advisory Group.

Deadline: 14 July 2024

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that no country was fully prepared to deal with a pandemic of such scale, severity, and impact. The Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR) was proposed to increase accountability and transparency among Member States in gap identification and capacity building for better health emergency preparedness. The peer-review nature of the envisioned UHPR ensures that key issues identified will be acted upon at the highest political levels of government, and that relevant recommendations will be followed up upon and monitored on a regular basis.

To provide technical guidance and advice on the UHPR process, a group of global technical experts was convened to support WHO in the development of relevant technical documents including the methodology for reviewing countries’ preparedness status, and other indicators to be used by all Member States undergoing the review process.

Functions of the UHPR Technical Advisory Group

In its capacity as a technical advisory body to WHO, the UHPR Technical Advisory Group (TAG) shall provide expert inputs to WHO on the technical content of the UHPR, including draft processes for piloting, and ensure that relevant technical documents are evidence-based, logical, and appropriate. The TAG shall have the following functions:

Support WHO strategies to ensure that the implementation of the UHPR adheres to its key principles and requirements while also considering the unique contexts and specific needs of countries.
Provide feedback and outcomes to WHO from the UHPR pilots and refine technical content concluding in a final version to be presented by WHO at the 78th World Health Assembly in 2025.
Operations of the UHPR Technical Advisory Group
The UHPR TAG will normally meet at least four times each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings as deemed necessary. TAG 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.

Who can express interest in being a TAG member?
The UHPR TAG will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to UHPR. Approximately 12 members will be selected.

WHO welcomes expressions of interest from senior level officials with expertise in the following areas:

International Health Partnership and Multilateral Cooperation
Health Planning and Financing
Health Economics
Peer-Review Mechanisms (UPR and no UPR)
Universal Health Coverage
Health Systems Strengthening
Global Health Diplomacy
Global Health Governance
Health Security and Policy
Parliamentarians
CSO Engagement
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the UHPR technical advisory group members, please submit the following documents by 15 July 2024, 24:00h (midnight) Geneva time to UHPR@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the UHPR Technical Advisory Group:

A cover letter, indicating your motivation for applying 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 or organization;

Your curriculum vitae; 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 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. Selection as a member of the advisory groups is dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts can be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).

All TAG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, commercial industries or entities, research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions, or organizations. Members are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). TAG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.

Telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat at any point during the selection process to enable WHO to ask questions relating to an applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant TAG.

The selection of TAG members 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 the ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations. The selection of TAG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, as well as 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 TAG will be subject to the proposed member returning the countersigned copy of these two documents to WHO.

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, to halt proceeding with the establishment of the TAG, 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 choosing or not choosing a member.

WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO website.

TAG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the TAG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of TAG members to participate in TAG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.

The appointment of TAG members 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 UHPR@who.int before the applicable deadline.

Related Other
Learn more about the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR)