Dynamic Roster of Experts – WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (P4 - P5 Grade)

Contract

This is a Multiple grade levels contract. More about Multiple grade levels contracts.

Objectives of the Programme: WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE)

The Office of Regional Emergency Director (RED), WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE), SEARO, is responsible for providing quality support on all matters relating to WHE under strategic priority 2 of GPW 13 and provide guidance and support in formulation of policies, their implementation and extend technical and managerial support for their implementation and management.

WHE department works mainly in two streams i.e. Preparedness and Response, broadly comprising following main areas of work:

1.Infectious Hazard Management (IHM): Prevention and control of high threat diseases of pandemic & epidemic potential through forecasting, characterization of diseases /infectious risks and development of evidence-based strategies to manage infectious hazards and to address high threat pathogens – such as influenza, Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF), Zika, Chikungunya, cholera, yellow fever, coronaviruses like the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS- CoV), meningitis and plague – responsible for epidemics or pandemics thereby reducing their impact on affected populations and limiting their international spread. The area also supports management of networks of experts related to these infectious hazards.

2.Country Health Emergency Preparedness and IHR (CPI): Shapes the long-term capacity development direction for Member States across all hazards with a focus on addressing core capacities required to comply with the International Health Regulations - 2005 (IHR-2005) and SEAR Benchmarks for emergency preparedness and response.

3.Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment (HIM): Provides timely and authoritative situation analysis, risk assessment and response monitoring of outbreaks or emergencies. This includes detecting, verifying and assessing the risk of potential and ongoing health emergencies; establishing data collection mechanisms and monitoring ongoing health emergency operations; providing data management, analytics and reporting platform to produce and disseminate timely emergency health information products.

4.Emergency Operations (EMO) including Operational Partnerships and Operations Support and Logistics (OSL): Engages with partners to coordinate action in all phases of emergencies—readiness, response and recovery--particularly for response and activation of incident management system; Develop a dynamic network of public health experts and partners that are able to provide assistance in emergency related areas and aligned with WHO’s core strategic functions and international mechanisms [IHR, Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Sendai Framework, UN Transformative humanitarian agenda; Global Health Cluster]; Strengthen operational readiness of WHO offices; Support Member States in health response operations to acute and protracted emergencies.

Description of duties

Under supervision of Lead Regional Emergencies (LRE) and overall guidance of the Regional Emergency Director (RED) and direct supervision of concerned Programme Area Manager, under specifically designed/scope of work, the incumbent shall assist in key activities of the WHE department in one or more of the following technical areas:

• Emergency response coordination (HEOC management, deployment etc.)
• Operational partnerships (GOARN, HCC, EMT, RRT etc)
• Infection Prevention and Control, and protection of the health workforce
• Establishing risk mitigation strategies and capacities for priority high-threat infectious hazards through developing policy, strategies, tools and offer technical support for building/strengthening capacities; establish/maintain networks for early detection, understanding and management of new/emerging threats
• Case management, clinical operations, and therapeutics
• Risk communication, community engagement (RCCE)
• Infodemic management and use of socio-behavioural insights for risk management
• IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework implementation (State Party Annual Reporting, After and Intra Action Reviews, Simulation exercises and Joint External Evaluation) and Universal Health & Preparedness Reviews
• Development and implementation of National Action Plans on Health Security.
• Emergency risk management at Points of Entry and during international travel and transport, and mass gatherings
• Laboratories and diagnostics; bio-safety and bio-security
• Surveillance, epidemiological investigation, contact tracing, risk assessment, risk-based adjustment of response measures, and/or data management and analysis
• Hospital safety for emergencies; pre-hospital and post-acute care for emergencies
• One Health, food safety and zoonoses; anti-microbial resistance containment
• Emergency WASH and Health Care Waste Management
• Operational support and logistics, and supply chains
• Disaster Risk Management; Sendai Framework and Health System Resilience for Emergencies
• Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework: Secretariat support and implementation of PIP Partnership Contribution (PC) funds at RO and recipient countries in the region; and mitigating implications of the Nagoya Protocol

Other mandatory duties would include deployment for emergency response coordination, submission of an end of assignment report and any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

QUALIFICATION

Education:

Essential: For positions at P4 and P5 levels, a university and an advance level / Masters degree related to health science (medical, veterinary, laboratory), public health, epidemiology, emergency response, health management, or social sciences is required.

Desirable:

Training in public health management of emergencies.

Experience:

Essential: Seven to ten years of relevant working experience with independent responsibilities and progressive technical complexity in global health emergencies of various types including disasters, humanitarian crisis, epidemiological outbreaks and experience towards country capacity building and contribution for emergency preparedness and response.

Number of years of experience required for each grade

• P4 grade: At least seven (7) years of relevant experience, some of which should have been obtained in an international context.
• P5 grade: At least 10 years of relevant experience including considerable experience obtained in an international context.

Functional Skills:

• Ability to produce and deliver quality results, is action oriented and committed to achieving outcomes.
• Ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which includes willingness to try, understand and be tolerant of different opinions and vie
• Proven ability in public health management of disasters, infection control and/or epidemics/outbreaks;
• Proven ability to apply emergency preparedness approaches (e.g., IHR) for capacity strengthening of the countries;
• Knowledge of the economic, social and political context of health emergency preparedness in countries of SEA region as well as globally;
• Excellent writing ability, as reflected in international publications and technical documents;
• Ability to work, negotiate and manage / lead in a multi-cultural environment, and
• Experience with WHO/UN or other multi/bilateral development agencies would be an asset

IT Skills:

Excellent knowledge of MS Office applications and computer skills for making high quality technical presentations including data analysis.

Competencies:

• Teamwork;
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural difference;
• Communication;
• Producing Results
• Ensuring effective use of resources;
• Promoting WHO’s position in health leadership.

Languages:

Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English Desirable: Fluent in any of the languages of the Region.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• The purpose of this VN is to invite qualified professionals with relevant expertise for P4 & P5 grades for inclusion in a roster of experts for possible short-term assignments which may arise from time to time, to meet the surge needs of public health emergencies of international concern in the SEA Region namely: Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
• The grade of the position offered will be fixed based on the level of responsibilities and complexity of tasks assigned as reflected in the terms of reference.
• The duration of temporary assignment would vary from six (6) months to one year. Any extension of contract would be subject to programmatic requirements, performance of the incumbent and availability of funds.
• Please note applications should be submitted through WHO's online recruitment portal only. Please visit www.who.int/careers to complete an online profile and to apply to this vacancy.
• Eligible and shortlisted candidates may be called for a written test for inclusion in the roster.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int./
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non-and under-represented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• Please visit the following websites for detailed information on salary scales: http://icsc.un.org. click on: Quick Links > Salary Scales > by date