The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members one of the Technical Advisory Group of Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR). 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 Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR) is a voluntary, transparent, Member State-led peer review mechanism, that aims to establish a regular intergovernmental dialogue between Member States on their respective national capacities for health emergency preparedness.
In November 2020, the Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR) was announced by the Director-General as a Member-State led initiative. Through resolution WHA74.7 (2021), Member States requested WHO Secretariat to develop a detailed concept note to guide a voluntary pilot phase of the UHPR, based on the principles of transparency and inclusiveness. A concept note was thereafter presented to and noted by WHA 75 (A75/21) and has served as the foundation for the development of the UHPR.
To date, twelve countries across five WHO regions are engaged in the process: Central African Republic (CAR), Iraq, Thailand, Portugal, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Tanzania, Luxembourg, Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka. Three of them; CAR, Thailand and Portugal have advanced to the global peer review stage.
UHPR underscores WHO’s pivotal role in convening high-level policy dialogues, and acts as a strategic platform to strengthen partnerships with Member States in terms of health security preparedness. UHPR promotes good governance and accountability for health security preparedness while aligning health security efforts with the broader development and prosperity agendas of Member States.
UHPR is fully embedded in the WHO’s Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Resilience (HEPR), and serves as a key mechanism to foster mutual accountability and solidarity. It facilitates regular high- level and multisectoral intergovernmental dialogues among Member States to strengthen their national HEPR capacities.
Functions of the UHPR Technical Advisory Group
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the TAG-UHPR shall have the following functions:
- Provide high-level advice on global health security preparedness recommendations and guidance to align the UHPR process with multisectoral partnerships, sustainable financing and investments in supporting WHO Member States.
- Provide advice to WHO on good governance and accountability mechanisms for sustainable investments in health security preparedness at the national, regional and global levels, leveraging expertise in global economy, finances and health development to ensure effective, transparent, and resilient health systems.
- Advise WHO on advancing high level political and financial advocacy to elevate health security preparedness on global agendas, targeting key decision-makers including in G7, G20, BRICS and other global health initiatives including financial institutions, multilateral development banks, development partners, bilateral and multilateral partnerships, with emphasis on actionable commitments and investment frameworks.
- Advise WHO on identifying and mitigating key risks in health security preparedness, pertaining to economic, social and political vulnerabilities, through high-level policy dialogue under UHPR.
- Provide high-level recommendations to WHO to strengthen health security preparedness through community engagement, protection and public-private partnerships to enhance inclusivity of the preparedness measures.
Operations of the Technical Advisory Group
The advisory group will normally meet at least twice annually; one virtual meeting and one in-person meeting. The in-person meeting will be held at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland or another location determined by WHO, usually for 1-2 days. If any additional meeting is called depending on the need, it will be virtual. The working language of the group will be English.
Who can express interest ?
The Technical Advisory Group of UHPR will be multidisciplinary, with members having a wide range of knowledge, skills and experience relevant to health emergency preparedness, and beyond. Approximately 18 members will be selected for a two-year term.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from individuals with expertise in the following areas:
- High-level international health partnerships
- Sustainable and innovative financing
- Health economics and global financial sector
- High-level political and policy dialogue
- Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health systems strengthening
- Global health diplomacy and health security
- Global health governance and parliamentarian networks
- Civil society engagement, philanthropy and public-private partnerships
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group of Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR), please submit the following documents by 30 July 2026 by 24:00hr (midnight) Geneva time to uhpr@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group of Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR)”.
- 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, please do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer.
- Your curriculum vitae (including your nationality/ies) and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at Declaration of interests
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO Secretariat. 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 ( Declaration of interests). 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 Secretariat in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientation. 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, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an 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, in principle, 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 uhpr@who.int well before the applicable deadline.