Consultant-Surveillance

..

1. Purpose of the Consultancy

This consultancy will support the WHE Unit, WHO Cambodia in providing systematic technical support to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in areas of surveillance, risk assessment and driving country impact for COVID-19 and build health security systems capacities.

2. Background

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Cambodia continued to strengthen preparedness whilst simultaneously responding to the pandemic. This two-tiered approach is aligned with the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III) which is the common strategic framework in WPR to guide implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005).

There have been many lessons learned over the last two years that are relevant for sustained management for COVID-19 and into the future even after the end of the pandemic. Some of these include the need for strengthened and functional early detection systems and well-resourced and capable rapid response teams at provincial, district and community levels to ensure signals are detected, verified, and investigated for COVID-19 and any other health threat. The local level public health functions are a key component of a primary health care approach. According to WHO’s Health systems for health security framework, “adopting a primary health care approach is key to building strong and resilient health systems for health security…A primary health care orientation of health systems, and the systematic integration of emergency risk management within it, can provide the essential foundations for both UHC and health security”.

Through strengthening the core capacities required under the IHR (2005) countries can improve their primary health care (PHC) systems in order to save lives and protect health as a result of outbreaks and health emergencies. As we build these core capacities and implement interventions, systems to monitor the impact of interventions are also necessary. The WPR vision paper, For the Future, indicates that demonstrating impact and accounting for investments through strategic use of data and health metrics is a WHO and Member State priority for improvement.

3. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation)

• Start date: 15 June 2022
• End date: 14 December 2022

4. Work to be performed

Under the supervision of the WHE Team Lead, and working closely under day-to-day management oversight by the Technical Officer, Epidemiology, the consultant will support MOH and partners on WHE technical functions on surveillance, risk assessment and monitoring and evaluation.

The consultant will be responsible for delivering the following:

Output 1: Implementing a systems approach to strengthen surveillance and risk assessment for COVID-19 and future infectious disease threats

• Assist surveillance team with weekly multisource surveillance stage assessment, risk assessments and weekly analyses of effectiveness of interventions, and any other ad hoc analyses for COVID-19
• Coordinate with the COVID-19 IMS technical pillars to produce regular situation reports, presentations and other information products
• Support development of training material and modality for RRTs at health centres for surveillance, risk assessment and outbreak response
• Support review and update of risk assessment material and development of new material for COVID-19 Variants of Concern (VOCs) to be delivered to RRTs across the countries in collaboration with the Regional Office and with focus on engagement and TOT at provincial levels
• Collaborate with relevant focal points to strengthen surveillance across cross-cutting areas including respiratory pathogen disease preparedness (e.g. influenza), zoonoses, AMR, food safety and disaster risk management for health (DRMH)
• In close coordination with laboratory colleagues, support establishment of a genomic surveillance system that can detect and monitor prevalence of VOC
• Coordinate with and support the focal points for surveillance, health information systems and laboratory to ensure systematic operational collaboration and coordination amongst WHO Cambodia teams

Key deliverables:

• Information products as and when required for COVID-19
• Training and operations material (PowerPoints, tools, SOPs) for health centre RRTs for surveillance, risk assessment and outbreak response
• Revised risk assessment material for national, provincial, and sub-provincial RRTs
• Implementation of community-based surveillance for respiratory pathogens including COVID-19 in a selected number of provinces
• SOP and related tools to pilot revised CamEWARN in three provinces

Output 2: Driving and measuring country impact to build subnational capacity for COVID-19 and the next health emergency

• Organization and support facilitation of a national multisectoral Intra-Action Review (IAR) for COVID-19 with relevant Ministries and partners including development of key materials (facilitation guides, triggers, presentations, agendas, and report)
• Establish and assist implementation of a monitoring framework with key multisource performance and capacity indicators to routinely track progress on strengthening of overall system readiness for COVID-19 and the next emergency

Key deliverables:

• A finalised COVID-19 Intra-Action Review report including the short- and long-term recommendations for strengthening systems for the next pandemic
• A Monitoring and Evaluation framework for system readiness across all technical areas using multisource data

Under the guidance of the TO Epidemiology and overall direction of the WHE TL, the consultant will undertake any other relevant activities that arise within the surveillance and outbreak response sphere.

5. Technical Supervision

The selected consultant will work under the supervision of:

Responsible Officer:

Epidemiologist

Email:

Manager:

WHE Team Lead/IM

Email:

6. Specific requirements

Qualifications

University degree in Public Health, Medicine/Veterinary Science, International Relations or a related field.

Experience

• Between five to seven years of experience in areas including infectious disease surveillance, public health, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building
• Experience working with NGOs, development partners or the UN system, preferably with WHO

Skills and knowledge

• Knowledge and skills in developing training materials and adult learning approaches
• Capacity to plan and conduct operational activities
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and sensitivity to political and cultural issues
• Proven ability to work in multisectoral teams at the international level
• Proven ability to organize, deliver activities and meet deadlines

Language

Written and spoken fluency in English is essential.

7. Competencies

• Teamwork
• Producing results
• Ensuring effective use of resources
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

8. Place of assignment

WHO Cambodia country office, Phnom Penh

• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.