The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016 – 2025 (Nutrition Decade) which was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as follow-up to the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) held in 2014 are bringing a renewed momentum for Nutrition with a clear expectation for a leadership role reaffirmed for FAO and WHO in providing evidence-informed guidance on nutrition and healthy diets.
In 2014, ICN2 called for action to address all forms of malnutrition – undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, overweight/obesity – as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), goals that were then taken up by the SDGs in 2015. Participating governments endorsed the ICN2 Rome Declaration on Nutrition which called on Member States to implement the ICN2 commitments through a set of voluntary policy options and strategies identified in the Framework for Action.
Key to achieving these global nutrition goals and commitments is ensuring an adequate, healthy diet in infants and young children so that they can develop into healthy, productive adults. Proper infant and young child feeding are critical for improving child survival and promoting healthy growth and development, with the first two years of a child’s life being particularly important, as optimal nutrition during this period lowers morbidity and mortality, reduces the risk of noncommunicable disease, and fosters overall development. A key component of optimal nutrition during childhood and beyond is adequate (but not excessive) intake of important micro-and macronutrients.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) established vitamin and mineral requirements for all age groups in 2004. Since this time, new data have emerged suggesting that requirements for some micronutrients may need to be updated, particularly for children. Therefore, and in part to inform the planned updating of WHO guidance on complementary feeding, the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division (ESN) and the WHO Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD) are establishing an expert group on nutrient requirements which will update nutrient requirements for children aged 0 – 36 months, following the WHO guideline development process and in line with Article 6 of the FAO Constitution.
Prior to initiating the process for updating the requirements, WHO conducted an initial review of the recent scientific literature on nutrient requirements, and compilation of national dietary guidelines from all regions, containing detailed information about nutrient requirements in the age group of interest. Using the data obtained from this preparatory work, FAO and WHO was able to prioritize the nutrients to be updated. The next batch of nutrients to be updated is iron, vitamin A, folate and magnesium.
FAO and WHO are therefore currently seeking to identify experts who would be able to serve in the expert group that will be updating the requirements for these nutrients in children aged 0 – 36 months.
Information for experts
Qualifications
Successful candidates should meet most or all of the following qualifications:
- Expertise in one or more subject matter areas as listed below
- Experience in developing nutrient requirements, in particular for children aged 0 – 36 months
- Good knowledge of the English language, both written and oral
- An advanced degree in nutrition or other relevant disciplines
- Ability to contribute to the preparation of scientific documents and to work in an international environment with scientists from various disciplines
- Recent, relevant scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals
- Leadership, or invited participation, in national or international scientific bodies, committees and other expert advisory bodies pertinent to the scope of this work
Subject matter expertise needed
- Micronutrient metabolism, bioavailability, deficiencies, of iron, vitamin A, folate or magnesium and related areas
In conjunction with the above:
- Infant and young child feeding
- Methodologies relevant to the establishment of nutrient requirements (e.g. depletion-repletion studies, nutrient balance studies, biomarker assessment, etc.)
- Nutrition epidemiology (including assessment of RCTs, prospective observational studies, etc.)
- Dietary assessment
Expert activities
Experts will contribute to the following activities as part of the expert group:
- providing input into the scope of the work
- developing key questions (in PICO format) that will guide evidence reviews
- prioritizing important outcomes for decision-making and deriving requirements
- examining and interpreting the evidence, with explicit consideration of the overall balance of risks and benefits
- assessing risk of bias and quality of the evidence
- identifying research gaps
- reviewing the final guidance document
Submitting an application
Interested parties should submit the following documents via the submission form at https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/961257
1. Curriculum vitae, including
- detailed education background;
- relevant work experience; and
- list of peer-reviewed publications.
2. Completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form
- PDF and Word versions of the DOI form, along with documents providing guidance on completing the DOI form can be downloaded at https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/961257
3. Signed Confidentiality Undertaking
- This document can be downloaded at https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/961257
Process for selection of experts
- Each curriculum vitae will be reviewed to assess whether the applicant meets the qualifications and has relevant expertise in the subject matter areas listed above.
- Declaration of Interest forms will be reviewed. Any potential or perceived conflicts of interest disclosed in the Declaration of Interests form will be considered in the selection process.
- In addition to subject matter expertise, the selection of experts will also take into consideration diversity and complementarities of expertise, a balance of genders and balanced representation from FAO/WHO geographic regions including developing and developed countries.
- Representatives of commercial organizations may not serve as experts.
Selected experts will be invited to contribute only in their individual capacity as experts and will not represent their government, nor their institution. The names and brief biographies of selected experts will be published to the FAO and WHO websites.
The expert group will be expected to meet 1-2 times in 2021/early 2022 (virtual and/or face-to-face meetings). The meetings will be in English only and all documents including systematic reviews will be prepared in English. Travel and per diem to attend any face-to-face meetings will be covered by FAO and WHO. No honoraria will be provided.
Documents must be submitted by 31 January 2021 to be eligible for consideration. Documents can be submitted through the online submission form at https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/961257. Detailed instructions for submitting documents are provided in the online form.
This call for experts is also cross-posted at http://www.fao.org/nutrition/requirements/en.
Questions regarding the call for experts should be addressed to NPUinfo@who.int.