Issued on: 20 August 2026

Deadline: 05 September 2026

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Multi-Communicable Disease Elimination Regional Technical Advisory Group (MCDE RTAG). 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 Eastern Mediterranean Region faces a high burden of communicable diseases, with progress towards elimination constrained by fragile health systems, emergencies, climate-related risks, population movement and programme fragmentation. A technical advisory group is required to provide strategic directions and expert advice to WHO EMRO to support the implementation of the regional Multi-Communicable Disease Elimination (MCDE) approach and initiative, aimed at accelerating the control and elimination of communicable disease in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Functions of the Multi-Communicable Disease Elimination Regional Technical Advisory Group (MCDE RTAG)

In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO EMRO, the MCDE RTAG shall have the following functions:

1. To provide guidance for implementing the regional MCDE approach and initiative.
2. To provide strategic and technical input on the final development of the MCDE strategy and framework and the operational aspects of its implementation.
3. To review progress, challenges and opportunities related to implementation of the regional framework.
4. To provide guidance on integration across disease programmes and shared health system functions.
5. To promote and provide technical guidance for the implementation of integrated service packages.
6. To identify and advise on appropriate implementation research topics in communicable diseases elimination and review the conduct and the results of such research projects.

In carrying out its functions, the MCDE RTAG will build on and complement existing regional mechanisms, avoid unnecessary duplication, and preserve disease-specific expertise, technical responsibilities, established targets and accountability.

Operations of the Multi-Communicable Disease Elimination Regional Technical Advisory Group (MCDE RTAG)

1. Members of the RTAG shall be appointed to serve for a period of four years from September 2026 to September 2030 and shall be eligible for reappointment for only one term.
2. The RTAG shall normally meet at least once each year. However, WHO EMRO may convene additional meetings. RTAG meetings may be held in person at WHO (WHO EMRO Cairo office or another location, as determined by WHO EMRO) or virtually via video or teleconference. RTAG meetings may be held in open and/or closed sessions, as decided by the Chairperson in consultation with WHO EMRO.
3. WHO may, at its sole discretion, invite external individuals from time to time to attend the open sessions of an advisory group, or parts thereof, as "observers". Observers may be invited either in their personal capacity, or as representatives from a governmental institution / intergovernmental organization, or from a non-State actor. WHO will request observers invited in their personal capacity to complete a confidentiality undertaking and a declaration of interests form prior to attending a session of the advisory group. Invitations to observers attending as representatives from non-State actors will be subject to WHO internal due diligence and risk assessment including conflict of interest considerations in accordance with the Framework for engagement with non-State actors (FENSA). Observers invited as representatives may also be requested to complete a confidentiality undertaking. Observers shall normally attend meetings of the RTAG at their own expense and be responsible for making all arrangements in that regard.
4. At the invitation of the Chairperson, observers may be asked to present their personal views and/or the policies of their organization. Observers will not participate in the process of adopting recommendations of the RTAG.
5. The RTAG may decide to establish smaller working groups (sub-groups of the RTAG) 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 RTAG for review at one of its meetings.
6. RTAG members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the RTAG.
7. Reports of each meeting shall be submitted by the RTAG to WHO (Regional Director of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region). All recommendations from the RTAG are advisory to WHO, who retains full control over any subsequent decisions or actions regarding any proposals, policy issues or other matters considered by the RTAG.
8. The RTAG shall normally make recommendations by consensus. If, in exceptional circumstances, a consensus on a particular issue cannot be reached, minority opinions will be reflected in the meeting report.
9. Active participation is expected from all RTAG members, including in working groups, teleconferences, and interaction over email. RTAG members may, in advance of RTAG meetings, be requested to review meeting materials and to provide their views for consideration by the RTAG.
10. WHO shall determine the modes of communication by the RTAG, including between WHO and the RTAG members, and the RTAG members among themselves.
11. RTAG members shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the RTAG or WHO to any third party.

Who can express interest?

The MCDE RTAG will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to communicable diseases elimination. Approximately 15 members may be selected.

WHO welcomes expressions of interest from:

Scientists, healthcare professionals, healthcare regulators and technical leaders and focal points at the Ministry of Health, with expertise in the following areas relevant to communicable diseases elimination :

• Communicable diseases prevention, epidemiology and surveillance, diagnosis, clinical management, treatment, and monitoring and evaluation
• Statistics, disease modelling and research, including the use of Artificial Intelligence solutions for communicable diseases prevention, diagnosis and management.
• Integrated disease surveillance
• Laboratory and diagnostics
• Entomology and vector control
• Disease elimination
• Health systems and programme delivery including health financing, supply chain management; and/or
• Implementation, social and behavioural sciences, ethics, equity, human rights and gender in public health.,
• Relevant technical expertise in cross-cutting areas relevant to communicable disease elimination, including community engagement, One Health, climate, environmental and social determinants, WASH, population mobility and cross-border collaboration.

In selecting members, consideration will be given to attaining an adequate distribution of technical expertise, geographical representation and gender balance.

Submitting your expression of interest

To register your interest in being considered for the MCDE RTAG, please submit the following documents by 05 September 2026, 24:00h (midnight) Cairo time to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dr Asiya Jama) using the subject line "Expression of interest for the Multi-Communicable Disease Elimination Regional Technical Advisory Group (MCDE RTAG)":

• 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);
• 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.

[note: alternatively to the email submissions, the technical unit can consider developing a datacall form to gather this information. If a datacol form is set up, please ensure that the drop down menu only includes the list of current WHO Member States and, if needed, the designation "others" at the end of the list.]

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.

[note: for experts coming from disputed areas WHO may need to amend the information they provided to make them compliant with WHO's nomenclature. Please contact LEG for this.]

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.

If you have any questions about this "Call for experts", please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dr Asiya Jama) well before the applicable deadline.