The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members on the Global Malaria Programme Guidelines Development Group for Vector Control. 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
WHO conducts independent evaluation of the public health value of new interventions for vector control with support from the Vector Control Advisory Group. This evidence on impact against the target disease(s) provides the foundation for the development of evidence-based recommendations aimed at informing the development of vector-borne disease control strategies by WHO Member States. These recommendations, published in WHO guidelines, are essential to ensure the optimal use of scarce resources available for vector-borne disease control.
The WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP) has consolidated all recommendations for malaria into one malaria guidelines document. GMP convenes multiple Guideline Development Groups (GDG) to support the development of WHO recommendations for specific technical areas related to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and elimination. Each GDG is made up of external experts whose central task is to develop evidence-based recommendations. The GDG also performs the important task of advising on the scope and key questions of the recommendations in PICO (Patient/Problem/Population, Intervention, Comparison/Control, Outcome) format. All recommendations are reviewed by an external review group, including members of the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG), to comment on clarity, setting-specific issues and implications for implementation. WHO guidelines are approved by the Guidelines Review Committee (GRC) before being published.
Functions of the Guidelines Development Group
In its capacity as an advisory body to GMP, the GDG will develop WHO recommendations on new vector control interventions, as well as validate at the request of WHO whether existing recommendations remain applicable or may need to be revised or extended to capture ongoing innovation of existing interventions. This includes the assessment of results from non-inferiority evaluations and the interpretation of these findings in the context of the recommendations published in the WHO guidelines for malaria.
The GDG shall:
- support development and finalize the key questions in PICO format;
- choose and rank priority outcomes that guide the evidence reviews and focus the recommendations;
- provide input into the protocols of systematic reviews conducted to develop summaries of evidence and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence profiles or other assessments of the quality of the evidence used to inform the recommendations;
- review and interpret the findings of non-inferiority analyses of vector control products to validate the applicability of existing recommendations or determine the need for revision, extension or development of new recommendations
- formulate recommendations and accompanying supporting text to be published in the WHO guidelines for malaria using transparent and explicit processes.
Operations of the Guidelines Development Group
1. The GDG shall normally meet as required to complete the scope of work described in the approved GDG planning proposal. GDG meetings may be held in person (at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference.
GDG meetings will normally be held in closed session.
Additional ad hoc experts may be invited as temporary advisors to GDG meetings, as deemed appropriate, to contribute to specific topics. The temporary advisors are required to complete a DOI form and sign a confidentiality undertaking. Temporary advisors do not participate in the formulation of recommendations.
2. GMP’s GDG for vector control shall have at least 10 and up to 15 members, who shall serve in their personal and independent capacities only to represent the broad range of disciplines relevant to vector control. The quorum for GDG meetings shall be two thirds of the members participating in the discussion on a specific topic.
3. The GDG may decide to establish smaller working groups (sub-groups of the GDG) to work on specific issues. Their deliberations shall take place via teleconference or videoconference. For these sub-groups, no quorum requirement will apply; the outcome of their deliberations will be submitted to the GDG for review and decision at the next appropriate meeting.
4. GDG members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the GDG.
5. The GDG shall share its recommendations (with support from the WHO Secretariat) to WHO (Director, GMP). All recommendations from the GDG are advisory to WHO and publication of these recommendations in WHO guidelines remains within the purview of WHO.
6. The GDG shall normally make recommendations by consensus. If, in exceptional circumstances, a consensus on a particular issue cannot be reached, the GDG may reach a decision by vote (Chair has a decisive vote).
7. Active participation is expected from all GDG members, including in working groups, teleconferences, and interaction over email. GDG members may, in advance of GDG meetings, be requested to review meeting documentation and to provide their views for consideration by the GDG. Failure to meet this responsibility may lead to termination of membership.
8. GDG members shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the GDG or WHO to any third party including through published media. The views of individual members are not reported publicly. Please see the Code of Conduct.
9. WHO shall provide the secretariat for the GDG, including necessary scientific, technical, administrative and other support. In this regard, the WHO Secretariat shall provide the members in advance of each meeting with the agenda, working documents and discussion papers. Distribution of the aforesaid documents to other Temporary Advisors will be determined by the WHO Secretariat.
Who can express interest?
In the selection of the GDG members, consideration shall be given to attaining an adequate distribution of technical expertise depending on the scope of the recommendations; diversity of perspective; geographical representation and gender balance.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from relevant demographics, as follows:
- relevant technical experts - Individuals selected for their technical expertise in malaria, in particular vector control, are critically important to the GDG but do not dominate the group;
- end-users, such as programme managers, who will adopt, adapt, and implement the recommendation. The aim is to ensure that the final guideline document is useful to its end-users, readily understood by them, and that interventions are likely to be implementable;
- representatives of groups most affected by the recommendations, such as service users and representatives of disadvantaged groups;
- experts in regulatory processes with relevant experience in bringing products to market;
- experts in assessing evidence and developing recommendations informed by evidence; and
- other technical experts as required (e.g. a health economist or an expert on equity, human rights and gender).
Submitting your application
This call is closed.
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, and the selection as a member of an advisory group 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 advisory group 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). Advisory group members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking, and their declaration of interests prior to the beginning of the first meeting, and future meetings thereafter.
The selection of members of the advisory groups 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 advisory group 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.
At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the staff from the Global Malaria Programme 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.
If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an advisory group 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 advisory group, disband an existing technical advisory group or modify the work of the advisory group.
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.
Prior to the first meeting of the group in 2024, the “public notice and comment” process will be conducted for each new GDG member, as per WHO procedures. The process consists of the online publication of the names and a short biography for all new GDG members.
Advisory group members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the advisory group or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of advisory group members to participate in face-to-face advisory group meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.
Appointment to the advisory group will be limited in time to the duration of a specific guidelines planning proposal, which generally spans a duration of 1-2 years. It can be extended at the discretion of WHO to cover the duration of additional guidelines planning proposals if the skillset provided by the GDG member remains relevant to the topic(s) under discussion.