Also team leader of the Centre of Excellence for Maternal Newborn and Child Health at Makerere University School of Public Health, Prof Peter Waiswa is among a group of 31 experts who have been appointed to the STAGE (Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts), which will provide strategic and technical advice to WHO on matters relating to Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health, and Nutrition (MNCAH&N).
This follows a lengthy nomination and selection process that also saw all the experts subjected to public scrutiny over their reported outstanding record of achievements in their field of expertise with a broader understanding of MNCAH&N issues..
The experts will inform the WHO Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agendas, with a focus on maximizing country impact as well as coordinated global leadership. STAGE will advise the WHO Director-General on maternal, newborn child, adolescent health and nutrition, specifically on the:
- Identification of broad priority topics (informed by any relevant guidance provided by various other existing WHO expert committees and groups) for the development/updating of WHO guidelines, norms and standards to steer national strategies and policies and/or to improve their implementation;
- Development of priority intervention packages and delivery approaches (based on relevant WHO guidelines) for inclusion in the WHO PHC and UHC agendas for different epidemiological contexts and levels of the health system;
- Strategies to achieve greater investment for country level implementation of context appropriate intervention packages and delivery approaches;
- Coverage and quality of implementation of WHO recommended intervention packages and delivery approaches; 5. Other topics, as identified by WHO, where there is lack of scientific consensus or have varied levels of acceptance across countries.
The inaugural meeting of STAGE will be a virtual meeting starting April 30 through May 1 2020.