The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria. This “Call for Experts” provides information about the Strategic Advisory Group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Issued on: 4 April 2024
Deadline: 17 May 2024
Background
Following a sustained trend toward the reduction of malaria from 2005 to 2014, since 2015 the Region of the Americas has experienced an increase in the total number of malaria cases and deaths. This has been due mainly to the massive increase in malaria transmission and outbreaks in areas with complex socio-political and economic challenges. In 2016, countries in the Americas expressed their commitment to the global goal of eliminating malaria. This is reflected in Resolution CD55.R7: Plan of Action for Malaria Elimination 2016-2020 of the 55th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization that was approved by Member States in 2016. This Plan of Action requested the Director to coordinate, in collaboration with countries and partners, Region-wide efforts to eliminate local malaria transmission and to prevent its potential re-establishment in malaria-free areas.
Since 2019, the Region has shown a sustained trend towards a reduction in malaria incidence, from 815,000 cases in 2019 to 480,000 cases in 2022. In the last five years, four countries were certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as malaria-free territories. Since the 2016 PAHO Directing Council Resolution, in coordination with donors, partners, and stakeholders, PAHO has supported malaria-endemic countries to reorient malaria control programs toward achieving elimination in accordance with the WHO global elimination framework. PAHO coordinates a regional technical cooperation agenda through the implementation of five-year action plans. The current Plan of Action for Malaria Elimination 2021-2025 emphasizes the need for coordinated actions to improve access to diagnosis and treatment, the concept of surveillance as an intervention, community participation, political commitment and inter-programmatic and intersectoral measures to achieve the elimination of malaria.
Malaria reduction efforts in the Americas are guided by the PAHO Strategic Plan 2021–2025, the Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2018–2030 and the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030. Malaria reduction efforts in the Americas also contribute to the fulfillment of Resolution CD 57/7 of the 2019 PAHO 57th Directing Council: PAHO Disease Elimination Initiative, A Policy for an Integrated Sustainable Approach to Communicable Diseases in the Americas.
Since 2015, PAHO’s work in the Region was supported by a Malaria Technical Advisory Group. In 2023 this advisory body was changed to the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) on Malaria, which will act to advise the Organization on all matters related to malaria in the Region of the Americas.
Functions of the Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria
In its capacity as an advisory body to PAHO, the SAG shall have the following functions:
- To provide an independent evaluation of the strategic, scientific and technical aspects of malaria activities including progress and challenges.
- To advise on the consolidation, development and implementation of the Strategy and Plans of Action for Malaria, and progress towards the achievement of regional goals.
- To provide guidance on regional response to current public health priorities regarding the prevention, control and elimination of malaria, and the prevention of the re-establishment of local malaria transmission in malaria free areas.
- To make recommendations on key issues (e.g. case management interventions and policies, improving epidemiological surveillance, chemoprevention intervention and other elimination accelerators, malaria vector control in the context of elimination, biological threats as anti-malarial drug resistance, priorities for malaria research in the Americas, and other relevant issues) as required.
- To advise on the evaluation of existing or needed general policies, strategies, goals and targets related to malaria, including those related to evolving concerns including specific target populations, outbreaks and emergency situations.
- To provide recommendations on appropriate corrective/mitigation measures to facilitate on-track implementation and achievement of targets.
Operations of the Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria
The SAG shall normally meet at least twice each year, with one in-person meeting and one virtual meeting with the working languages being English and Spanish. However, PAHO may convene additional meetings. SAG meetings may be held in person (at PAHO headquarters in or another location, as determined by PAHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference.
Who can express interest?
The Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to malaria. Approximately 15 members may be selected.
PAHO welcomes expressions of interest from:
- Scientists and healthcare professionals with expertise the following areas:
- Tropical Medicine & Parasitology
- Microbiology
- Epidemiology
- Entomology
- Anthropology & Sociology
- Geography & Environmental Sciences
- Health systems and programme delivery
- Ethics, equity, human rights and gender in public health.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria, please submit the following documents by May 17, 11:59pm, Washington, D.C. time to montoyar@paho.org using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria”:
- 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 form for PAHO/WHO Experts (PDF, 279.47KB).
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by PAHO. 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 PAHO SAGs must be free of any real, potential, or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the PAHO Declaration of Interests for PAHO Experts, and the selection as a member of a SAG is, amongst other things, dependent on PAHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to PAHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All SAG 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 PAHO Experts. SAG 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 PAHO’s Secretariat to enable PAHO 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 SAG. The selection of members of the SAGs will be made by PAHO 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 SAG members will also take into account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by PAHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter. Appointment as a member of a SAG will be subject to the proposed member returning to PAHO the countersigned copy of this document, as well as the Declaration of Interests Form and the confidentiality undertaking mentioned above.
PAHO 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 PAHO's action. PAHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the SAG, disband an existing SAG or modify the work of the SAG.
PAHO 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.
PAHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the PAHO internet.
SAG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the SAG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of SAG members to participate in SAG meetings will be covered by PAHO 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 montoyar@paho.org well before the applicable deadline.
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