Epidemiologist

Contract

This is a NO-C contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be more than 4,342 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to help countries, and to coordinator international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

1. Provide technical support and assist in the development of surveys and monitoring/surveillance systems for detection, verification and response to public health incidents; ensuring efficiency of data collection, correlation, analysis, interpretation and timely reporting at health facility at the district levels.2. Collate and verify data on reported outbreaks or rumours received from multiple sources, conduct retrospective analysis of reported incidents: determine trends, distribution patterns, and efficiency of the verification mechanism.3. Brief the team on data quality improvement, use of data for monitoring of trends, ALERT and ACTION thresholds (triggers), as well as methodologies for performing Data Quality Audit (DQA) at district and health facility level.4. Provide technical assistance for the establishment and functionality of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) and Public Health Management Committee (PHEMC) for potential hazards such as infectious diseases, zoonotic events, food safety events and chemical events at the district level as per the national guidance and standards.5. Contribute in building the core surveillance, alert and response national capacities in accordance with the requirement for IHR 2005; provide trainings for subnational incident management team and health facility level staff, support the team in the supervision and on-the-job training at health facility level.6. Support the development of early warning systems (including event based and indicator based surveillance) for epidemic and pandemic-prone diseases for early detection and response to public health incidents; conduct field investigation. Provide technical support for vulnerability assessment, risk mapping and development of preparedness/contingency plan at district level.7. Maintain an incident management system database of reported outbreaks and public health incidents, at the district level, and document all steps taken in the verification and response process.8. Facilitate the district surveillance monthly review meetings including the tracking of the surveillance performance indicators. In cooperation with the team, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the planned surveillance activities, as well as alert and response capacities for incidents detection, verification and response in compliance with IHR 2005.9. Prepare and disseminate disease outbreak news, technical documents, updates and assessments to key decision-makers in the organizational hierarchy and to the national health authorities, as required using standard tools and templates (e.g. OSCAR).10. Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: First university degree in epidemiology, statistics, database management or public health from an accredited/recognized institute. Desirable: An advanced university degree in health related field or quantitative epidemiology, specialized training in communicable diseases.

Experience

Essential: At least five years related experience, at the national and international levels, in implementation of public health surveillance, outbreak investigation and response. Previous experience in implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) is a requirement. Desirable: Experience in the areas in developing countries. Previous experience working in collaboration with multiple actors in public health surveillance is desirable.Prior humanitarian working experience at field level with WHO/UN, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organization or with an international nongovernmental organization with expertise in disaster and outbreak response.

Skills

- Sound knowledge and skills in database management and statistical analysis, secondary data review, survey designing and implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems design or use, and public health information management.- Proven ability to multitask across various planning and implementation processes within a highly demanding environment- Demonstrated knowledge, competency and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response with particular attention to application of an all hazard approach in the context of the International Health Regulations and the use of event based and indicator based surveillance, as well as descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences Communication Teamwork Communication

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Expert knowledge of Arabic. Desirable: The above language requirements are interchangeable.

REMUNERATION

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 52,100 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other positions at the similar or lower level or on different contractual modality.

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.