Consultant – To support the work on eye care and ear and hearing care in the WHO Regional Officer for Africa (AFRO)

Overview

Support eye and ear care integration in WHO Africa region

You have:

• A first university degree (Bachelor's level) in Public Health, ORL, Audiology, Ophthalmology, Optometry, or related areas.
• At least five years of work experience in public health, NCDs, eye health, or hearing health.
• Expert knowledge of English.
• Intermediate knowledge of French is desirable.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Ability to engage with multiple stakeholders.

1. Background

   Eye and ear conditions are remarkably common. Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness, of whom at least 1 billion have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. More than 1.5 billion people experience some decline in their hearing capacity during their life course live with hearing loss, of whom at least 430 million will require rehabilitation and care. Many causes of hearing loss can be prevented.

Loss of vision or hearing, if not identified and addressed, can have far-reaching consequences, adversely affecting psychosocial well-being, quality of life, educational attainment and economic independence at various stages of life.

The global need for eye and ear care is projected to increase dramatically in the coming decades due to changes in demographics and lifestyle, posing a considerable challenge to health systems.

Across the life course, people with eye or ear conditions can benefit greatly from effective and available interventions. Despite the existence and effectiveness of these interventions, the vast majority of those in need do not have access to them. Key challenges include the lack of integration into health systems, for example, in national health strategic plans and health information systems; poor coordination across related programmes (e.g., neonatal services, child health, ageing, NCDs) and sectors (e.g., education, labour, private sector); and poor availability and coordination of the workforce.

Recent WHA resolutions urge governments to integrate eye care (WHA73.4) and ear and hearing care (WHA70.13) into their national health system frameworks and instructs WHO to provide the evidence and tools to do this. In response, WHO developed several strategic guides, tools and initiatives to support planning and implementation for eye care and ear and hearing care. These tools include the World report on vision, 2019 and the World report on hearing 2021 that provide recommendations for integration people-centered eye care (IPEC) and people-centered ear and hearing care (IPC-EHC) into national health plans. Key initiatives launched by WHO include:

• World Hearing Day: on 3 March to raise awareness on ear and hearing care
• Make Listening Safe: to prevent avoidable hearing loss caused by unsafe listening
• mMyopia: to prevent myopia among children and adolescents
• Eye care situation analysis: using the WHO Eye care situation analysis tool
• SPECS initiative to improve access to eyeglasses for all those in need globally

• AUDIRe initiative to improve access to hearing aids among people in need

  2. Objectives and activities

  The overall objective of this consultancy work is to strengthen activities on eye care and ear and hearing care across countries in the WHO Regional Office for Africa.

The consultant is expected to conduct specific duties and responsibilities:

1. Promote and support the integration of people-centered eye care (IPEC) and people-centered ear and hearing care (IPC-EHC), in line with recommendations made in the World report on vision and World report on hearing.

Activities:

1. Support strategic and operational planning for inclusion of IPEC and IPC-EHC within national health plans and into relevant programs for Noncommunicable Disease prevention and management.
2. Support Member states to integrate eye and ear health part of universal health coverage agenda
3. Support member states to implement decentralized and integrated person-centred eye health services including use of the WHO PEC manual
4. Support the generation of timely, reliable, and accessible evidence on the prevalence and impact of vision impairment and hearing loss, and related public health actions.
5. Support member states in ensuring that data collection systems for eye health indicators are integrated into national HMIS and DHIS2

6. Build technical capacities by utilizing available WHO technical tools and regional expertise to answer the regional and national needs in these areas.

7. Promote ongoing WHO initiatives in the region to raise awareness on and improve access to eye care and ear and hearing care services:

Activities:

1. Promote screening and rehabilitation for vision and hearing impairments through implementation of the SPECS and AUDIRe initiatives.
2. Support Strengthen country capacities by initiating or integrating training programs on eye care and ear and hearing care for primary care providers.
3. Collaborate with relevant clusters and units in WHO and other partners and stakeholders in the development of flexible and locally sustainable school eye health package integrated into school health systems

4. Support member states in the planning and implementation of integrated people-centred eye care (IPEC) including use of ECSAT and other tools for strategic and operational planning of eye health services

5. Raise awareness on vision impairment and hearing loss through:

Activities:

1. Annual observance of the World Hearing Day, in line with its theme and key messages.
2. Annual observance of the World Vision Day, in line with its theme and key messages.
3. Promoting the mMyopia and Make Listening Safe initiatives in the region.

4. Strengthen national, regional, and global partnerships around eye and ear health and support member states in resource mobilization efforts.

5. Perform other related duties, as assigned.

   3. Specific Requirements, skills and languages

• Education Qualifications

Essential

• A first university degree (Bachelor's level) in Public Health, ORL, Audiology, Ophthalmology, Optometry, or related areas from an accredited/recognized university

Desirable

• Advanced university degree (Master's level or above) in Public Health and related areas

• Experience

Essential

• At least five years of work experience in public health, NCDs, eye health, or hearing health at national and international level
• Experience in supporting policy dialogues or public health planning at regional, national or subnational level.

Desirable

• Experience working in WHO, the UN and/or international organization, health cluster partners, and recognized humanitarian organizations, including at the regional/country level.

• Functional knowledge and skills

• Strong organizational skills

• Ability to engage with multiple stakeholders (Member States, non-State actors, civil society groups)

Languages and level required

• Essential: Expert knowledge of English.

• Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French. Both languages are interchangeable

• Other Skills (e.g., IT)

• Ability to propose innovative approaches and solutions to challenging situations.

• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Excel).

WHO Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication

• Producing results

  4. Technical Supervision

  Prof. Jean-Marie Dangou, NCD Coordinator of WHO Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville-Congo

  5. Place of Assignment

  The consultant is expected to work remotely under the supervision of the NCD Coordinator of WHO Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville.

  6. Travel

  TBD

  7. Remuneration and Pay band

  The remuneration for the above position comprises salaries for staff in the Professional category of Pay band B:

• P3: 350-424 USD daily or 7000-8480 per month

The contract duration will be 2 working days per week, for a total ninety (90) working days. From 1st October 2022 to 31st March 2023, with possibility to extension to additional 90 working days.

8. Duration of assignment:

The contract duration will be for a total ninety (90) working days. From 1st October 2022 to 31st March 2023, with possibility to extension to additional 90 working days.

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Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: who.int