Serial No: 2025/August/220
Issued on: 18 August 2025
Deadline: 13 October 2025 (23:59 hours, IST)
The World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Regional Validation Committee for Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus (SEAR RVC). 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
WHO released the first edition of the guideline for global validation of Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis in 2014, to respond to the global community commitment to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis as a public health threat. The guidance document was further updated in 2017 to include revised validation criteria for EMTCT of HIV, an expanded description of surveillance case definition of congenital syphilis, criteria for evaluation of human rights, gender equality and community engagement etc. In 2021, the third edition of the guideline was released which includes validation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) EMTCT, underlining the importance of elimination of EMTCT of the three infections, HIV, Syphilis and HBV, as part of improving the wellbeing of mother and child and contributing to the goals of disease elimination.
The process for validation requires validation structures at national, regional and global levels. Following WHO governance guidance, countries seeking to apply for validation or prepare towards validation, should establish their governance and coordination mechanism at national level. At the WHO South-East Asia region, the WHO regional office hosts a Regional Validation Secretariat (RVS), which works in close partnership with UNAIDS, UNICEF and other relevant United Nations partners.
In the Integrated Regional Action Plan (I-RAP) on hepatitis, HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection, for SEA Region (2022- 2026), Member States have endorsed the commitment to achieve elimination of either HIV or Hepatitis B or syphilis or Hepatitis B in a total of 5 countries and 11 countries by 2025 and 2030, respectively. In April 2025, the Asia-Pacific regional roadmap for Triple EMTCT of HIV, syphilis and HBV 2024 to 2030, was launched by UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO articulating the framework and actions needed to accelerate towards this goal.
Moving forward to advance the EMTCT validation of countries in WHO South-East Asia, SEA RVC is the advisory body to WHO in this field, working broadly with other regional advisory bodies and expert networks. The SEA Regional Validation Committee (RVC) is established for several years and has convened to review a number of countries for EMTCT validation and maintenance of validation, including Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Functions of the SEA RVC:
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the SEA RVC shall have the following functions:
- To review national validation reports from the National Validation Committee (NVC) to determine and advise WHO on their compliance with the global criteria for validation of EMTCT through expert desk review and in-country mission or virtual validation assessment using the four validation assessment tools;
- To advise WHO on working with the National Validation Committees (NVCs) to assist the country efforts to prepare and complete validation activities, get additional information as required, and supervise country validation assessments;
- To advise WHO on how countries could address gaps or barriers to global validation discovered through the evaluation process, in case the NVC report does not meet the criteria;
- To advise WHO on ways of working with the RVS through the corresponding channels;
- To prepare the regional validation report to inform WHO regarding compliance with global criteria for validation of EMTCT before submission of the report by WHO to the RVS;
- To advise WHO as to whether candidate countries’ achievements in EMTCT of HIV, syphilis and HBV can be recommended to GVAC for validation;
- To advise WHO on the liaison with the RVS and the provision of updates about validation activities in Member states; to advise WHO on assisting the RVS in communicating between national, regional and global partners as required;
- To advise WHO on collaboration with the RVS, National Validation Secretariat (NVS) and NVC to ensure the monitoring for maintenance of validation, including re-evaluation of impact and process indicators;
- To review and provide feedback to WHO on the validation assessment tools;
- To support WHO in the determination of a detailed operational practices including evaluation approach and methods, organization of in-country missions or virtual validation assessment and communicating with the NVS, NVC and global partners.
Operations of the SEA RVC
The SEA RVC will carry out its responsibilities in accordance with the following guidance:
- Members of the RVC shall be appointed to serve for a period of three (3) years and shall be eligible for reappointment.
- The SEA RVC shall normally meet at least once each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. SEA RVC meetings may be held in person (at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference.
- SEA RVC members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the SEA RVC.
- Active participation is expected from all SEA RVC members, including in working groups, teleconferences, and interaction over email. SEA RVC members may, in advance of SEA RVC meetings, be requested to review meeting materials and to provide their views for consideration by the SEA RVC.
- SEA RVC members shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the SEA RVC or WHO to any third party.
Who can express interest?
This call for interest aims to expand the membership of the SEA RVC EMTCT for additional experts.
- Public health programme management: HIV, sexually transmitted infections especially syphilis, and hepatitis B and C;
- Clinical: HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis and immunization;
- Maternal and child health, obstetrics and gynaecology;
- Strategic information;
- Laboratory;
- Key populations, community of people living with HIV, hepatitis, marginalized and vulnerable groups;
- Gender and human rights with a focus on people at higher risk;
- Social and behavioural sciences and/or community development.
In the selection of the additional SEA RVC members, consideration shall be given to attaining an adequate distribution of technical expertise, geographical representation public/private sector and gender balance.
At least one woman living with HIV and one with hepatitis shall be included in the composition of the SEA RVC.
Submitting your expression of interest
nandab@who.int; chanpo@who.int using the subject line; "Expression of interest for the SEA RVC" and include the following attachments:
- 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 (including your nationality/ies) and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at https://covid.comesa.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest
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 SEA RVC 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 SEA RVC 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 advisory group 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://covid.comesa.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). SEA RVC 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 SEA RVC.
The selection of members of the SEA RVC 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 SEA RVC 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 SEA RVC 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 SEA RVC, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the SEA RVC.
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.
SEA RVC members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the SEA RVC or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of SEA RVC members to participate in SEA RVC 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 Email to sea-hhs@who.int well before the applicable deadline.