Católica Professor appointed to WHO's Technical Advisory Group

Rui Gaspar, professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Universidade Católica, was appointed to the Technical Advisory Group on risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, last February 15th, for a period of two years.

The professor of Católica was selected for the position of specialist to the WHO body, among numerous candidates from dozens of countries on the European continent.

Rui Gaspar thus joins the group of 20 experts from 18 different European countries that will advise the WHO Regional Office in Europe, whose focus "to advise WHO/Europe on the current state of the art in RCCE-IM-related research, analysis and innovation in best practice; and how this might be applied to the design, implementation and evaluation of RCCE-IM strategies and actions across the emergency life-cycle", according to the WHO.

The group, of which Rui Gaspar is a member, met for the first time on 26 April, and was attended by Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. This meeting served to discuss the strategies of the RCCE-IM in situations such as COVID-19, mpox and the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine and the earthquakes in Turkey.