Call for applications for members to serve on Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Tuberculosis (STAG-TB)

14 March 2022 (Call for experts)

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis (TB) Programme is seeking qualified individuals to serve as members of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Tuberculosis (STAG-TB). This “Call for experts” provides information about the above advisory group, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.

Background

As part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s End TB Strategy, Member States committed to ending the global TB epidemic by 2030. The first United Nations high-level meeting on TB held in 2018 resulted in a political declaration with ambitious targets and commitments to contribute to this goal. The UN Secretary General’s 2020 progress report for this political declaration noted that the high-level commitments and targets have galvanized global and national progress towards ending TB, but urgent and more ambitious investments and actions are required, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has resulted in an annual increase in the number of people dying from TB for the first time in a decade, coupled with reductions in the number of people diagnosed and treated for TB.  

WHO is committed to working with countries, partners and civil society in ensuring access to TB prevention and care services. The Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Tuberculosis was established in 2001 and provides advice to WHO on ending TB.

Operations and membership of the STAG-TB

Members of the STAG-TB are appointed by the Director-General based on their scientific and technical competence. In the selection of the members, consideration is given to attaining a  balance of technical expertise as well as geographical and gender representation. Members serve in their personal capacities, for a term of three years, to represent the range of disciplines relevant to public policy development and implementation for ending TB.    

STAG-TB meetings are organized annually, and ad-hoc meetings may be organized from time to time to address any urgent issues. Members may also be requested to provide input into online documents between scheduled meetings. The current membership and terms of reference of the STAG-TB are available here.

Who can express interest?

This call for expression of interest is open to experts with high-level experience and demonstrated results in providing strategic leadership on public health and global development. We are inviting experts in the following areas to complement the existing STAG-TB membership: governance, financing, ethics, human rights, social protection and multisectoral collaboration. Given the need for multisectoral action to combat TB, as outlined in the UN High Level Meeting Political Declaration and SDGs, special consideration will be given to applicants with expertise beyond TB. As the distribution of the global burden of tuberculosis, expertise and experience relevant to low- and middle- income settings is particularly important. 

Submitting your expression of interest

To register your interest to be considered for the STAG-TB, please submit the following documents by 25 March, 2022 to gtbprogramme@who.int, using the subject line “Expression of interest for the STAG-TB”:

·  A cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply 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;

·  Please include in the cover letter, the primary and secondary (if any) workstream(s) you would like to be considered for (i.e. monitoring and surveillance, operational research, affected communities and civil society engagement, health system strengthening, wider global health issues) and describe any content areas in which you have particular interest and expertise (e.g. such as health care financing, ethics, human rights, and social protection, palliative care, disability, mental health);

·  Your curriculum vitae;

· A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at here.

The 2022 STAG-TB meeting is scheduled for 6-8 June 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland; interested individuals should be available for this meeting.

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 an AG is, among 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. 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. 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.

Official info: WHO