Call for Experts (2025/June/209) : WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change

Deadline: 27 August 2025

Serial no.: 2025/June/209

The World Health Organization (WHO)- Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change. 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 WHO South-East Asia Region is home to some of the world's most densely populated and climate-vulnerable countries. The region comprises 10 countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Countries in the region face significant challenges due to their unique geography, socio-economic conditions, and heavy reliance on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and water resources. The impacts of climate change- including rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, more frequent and extreme weather events, and sea-level rise-pose a major threat to public health and sustainable development in the region.

Cyclones, floods, droughts, and heatwaves occur with growing frequency and intensity, disrupting essential services, displacing populations, and heightening risks of injuries, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks. Coastal and low-lying countries like the Maldives, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, and parts of Myanmar are particularly vulnerable. Rising sea- levels threaten freshwater resources, agricultural land, and human settlements, exacerbating displacement and economic instability. Irregular rainfall patterns result in water scarcity during dry periods and excessive water during monsoon seasons. This imbalance leads to waterlogging, flash floods, and contamination of drinking water supplies, intensifying the prevalence of waterborne diseases. Rapid urbanization has reduced green spaces and worsened the urban heat island effect in cities, leading to elevated temperatures and increased risks of heat-related illnesses, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing conditions. Warmer temperatures and altered precipitation patterns create optimal conditions for the breeding of disease vectors like mosquitoes, driving the spread of malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and other vector-borne diseases.

The population across the WHO South-East Asia Region faces a range of direct and indirect health consequences due to climate change, including: Heat-Related Illnesses (heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and cardiovascular complications); Waterborne Diseases (Cholera, Diarrhea, Typhoid); Vector-borne diseases (Malaria, Dengue, and Zika); Food Insecurity and Malnutrition (due to disruptions in agriculture, fisheries, and food supply chains); Mental Health Impacts (including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder due to climate-induced displacement and loss of livelihoods); Respiratory Diseases (like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to poor air quality, driven by urbanization, industrial emissions, and increased dust storms) and physical injuries and mortality during extreme weather events.

Addressing the health impacts of climate change in the WHO South-East Asia Region requires a multi-sectoral and coordinated approach. Key priorities include:

• Strengthening the resilience of health systems and infrastructure to withstand climate-related shocks and ensure continuity of care during emergencies.
• Developing robust systems to predict and respond to extreme weather events and disease outbreaks.
• Empowering local communities to adopt climate-resilient practices and enhancing their capacity to respond to health risks.
• Conducting campaigns to raise awareness about the health risks of climate change and promote preventive measures.

• Integrating climate considerations into national climate adaptation and mitigation policies, health policies and programs and in the programmes of other sectors, with a focus on vulnerable populations.

• Supporting research to better understand climate-health linkages and developing evidence-based interventions and policies.
• Mobilizing resources to fund climate-resilient health initiatives by accessing international climate funding mechanisms.

The Environmental Determinants and Climate Change (EDCC) unit at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) looks to promote a healthier environment, intensify primary action and influence public policies in all sectors, to address the root causes of environmental threats to health. The EDCC unit develops and promotes preventive policies and interventions based on an in-depth, scientific analysis of the evidence base for environmental determinants of human health. The unit is guided and mandated by the Malé Declaration on building the health systems resilience to climate change (2017) and the Regional Plan of action for the WHO-SEARO Global Strategy on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2020-2030.

The EDCC unit in WHO-SEARO aims to establish a Regional Expert Group (REG) to provide guidance to the Regional Office in supporting the Member States in the implementation of the Regional Plan of action for the WHO-SEARO Global Strategy on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2020-2030 adopted at the Regional Committee meeting in 2019. This will further enhance the support provided by WHO-SEARO to countries of the region to address the local and transboundary impacts of climate change and air pollution and address the co-benefits of climate change more effectively.

Functions of the Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change

1. Provide strategic guidance to WHO SEARO and the SEA Region Member States on policy dialogue, priority setting, and identifying effective, cost-efficient strategies for implementing evidence-based interventions that deliver health and air quality benefits in alignment with regional and country-specific contexts.
2. Provide technical expertise on capacity-building and advocacy efforts to strengthen the integration of health considerations into climate mitigation policies, particularly those targeting climate change and air pollution.
3. Oversee and support a systematic review of current evidence on the effectiveness of interventions addressing climate change, air pollution, and their health impacts.
4. Advise on addressing ongoing and emerging challenges and constraints faced by Member States in implementing and scaling up evidence-based climate and health initiatives.
5. Facilitate the exchange of best practices and case studies on climate change and air pollution mitigation, particularly in developing and least developed countries.
6. Guide and promote a regional research agenda on climate change, including implementation research and efforts to strengthen research capacity.
7. Provide strategic and technical guidance on managing and disseminating knowledge related to climate change, health, and air pollution data within the region and globally.

Operations of the Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change

The work of REG will be led by the Director, Department of Health Promotion (HP), WHO-SEARO and supported by team members in the EDCC unit. Director-HP will coordinate with other Program Directors in SEARO for discussion on issues necessitating cross-departmental collaboration and coordination. REG will be expected to meet annually at least three times virtually or in person. All REG meetings will be held either in-person or virtually, interim teleconferences with select group members may also be required. The WHO-SEARO Secretariat will share products, with the REG by email for the members to review and provide advice in a timely manner. REG members may also be required to attend meetings on an ad-hoc basis, for which invitations will be shared well in advance. The working language of the group will be English.

Who can express interest?

The Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience. Approximately 13 individual experts may be selected.

WHO-SEARO welcomes expressions of interest from scientists and healthcare professionals with expertise in the following areas:

• Climate Change and Health
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and health care waste management
• Air Pollution and Health
• Occupational Health
• Chemical Safety
• Biodiversity and ecosystem health

Submitting your expression of interest

To register your interest in being considered for the Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change, please submit the following documents by indicate the exact date of closure of the call, e.g. 24:00h (midnight) Geneva time to [email protected] using the subject line "Expression of interest for the Regional Expert Group (REG) on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change":

• 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 notuse 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.

After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO-SEARO. 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 group 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 the REG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO-SEARO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO-SEARO's evaluation of an applicant's experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).

All REG 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). REG 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-SEARO Secretariat to enable WHO-SEARO 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 REG.

The selection of members of the REG will be made by WHO-SEARO 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 REG 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-SEARO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an REG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO-SEARO the countersigned copy of these two documents.

WHO-SEARO 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 its action. WHO-SEARO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the REG, disband an existing REG or modify the work of the REG.

WHO-SEARO 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-SEARO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO-SEARO internet.

REG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the REG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of REG members to participate in REG meetings will be covered by WHO-SEARO 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 [email protected] well before the applicable deadline.