Health and Nutrition Assistant

Malnutrition: Peru has gained global recognition for successfully reducing stunting in children under 5 from 23.2% in 2010 to 12.1% in 2020. This achievement is attributed to sustained political commitment, evidence-based interventions, and a period of unprecedented economic growth. However, the country still grapples with nutrition challenges, particularly high rates of overweight and obesity among school-aged children and adolescents. Despite the implementation of a law promoting healthy foods for children and adolescents in 2013, there is a continued need to raise awareness among families and build capacities in health and education personnel to fully implement the relevant components of the law.

UNICEF aims to address this issue in peri-urban districts of San Martin de Porres and Carabayllo in Northern Lima, focusing on interventions on school-aged children (6 – 11 years) and adolescents (12 – 17 years) with a 2-year project using the SBC model.

Immunization: On May 26, 2023, Peru declared a Health Emergency due to a high risk of polio and measles outbreaks in the departments of Amazonas, Arequipa, Lambayeque, Lima, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Puno, San Martín, Tacna, Tumbes, Ucayali, and Callao to reduce the risk of transmission of polio and measles through vaccination. In this decree, the government has allocated US$7 million to vaccinate approximately 2.5 million children with IPV (Inactivated Polio Vaccine), OPV (oral polio vaccine), and MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccines, among other activities.

Annual vaccination coverage for polio (3erd dose) and MMR2 from 2019 to 2023 was below 95%, resulting in an accumulation of susceptibles to measles of 888,455 children under 5 years old, reaching a Risk Index (RI) of 1.65. An RI equal to or greater than 0.8 indicates that the assessed area has a high risk of allowing measles virus circulation and, consequently, the potential for outbreaks or epidemics.

On January 26, 2024, the Center for Epidemiology, Prevention, and Disease Control (CDC Peru) issued an alert regarding the risk of imported cases of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome throughout the country. On January 29, the Ministry of Health confirmed an imported case of measles in a 21-year-old man who returned from Italy on January 7, prompting contact tracing and immunization activities. On the same day, the PAHO issued an alert for the Americas region, urging the maintenance of adequate vaccination coverage. On February 15, the Ministry of Health confirmed a second case of measles in a 10-month-old girl in Lima, activating an epidemiological perimeter and urging compliance with the national vaccination schedule. The last case of measles was in 2000.

Starting 2024, a single dose of the HPV vaccine has been included in the regular vaccination schedule for boys in the fifth grade of primary education, approximately between 9 and 13 years of age. This complements the dose received by girls of the same age. Many actions need to be carried out in schools and among parents to raise awareness about the importance of the HPV vaccine for both boys and girls.

Therefore, UNICEF will conduct an intervention in primary schools in the Loreto region. In addition to supporting advocacy efforts, the intervention aims to strengthen vaccination coverage, educate caregivers, and conduct communication campaigns promoting vaccination.

Under the direct supervision of Health specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: •Contributes to literature reviews on malnutrition, obesity, and immunization programs under the guidance of UNICEF's health specialist, aiming to enhance the organization's understanding and approach to these critical health issues. •Assists in designing educational materials and awareness campaigns on nutrition and vaccination, under the supervision of UNICEF's health officer, ensuring that these materials are aligned with UNICEF's standards and objectives. •Assists in the creation of reports and visual materials that communicate the project's achievements, working under the direction of UNICEF's health officer to ensure that all communications reflect UNICEF's mission and impact in the health sector. •Collaborates in developing strategies to enhance community engagement in immunization efforts, under the mentorship of UNICEF's health specialist, focusing on identifying and ad-dressing barriers to vaccine access. •Contribute to the preparation of internal documents for the area (TDR, amendments, bullet points, executive summaries, policy brief) on the issues of immunization and malnutrition. •Support and participate in the preparation and development of advocacy activities that are carried out to promote dialogues around health and the malnutrition and immunization issues in Peru. •Participates in technical meetings with state counterparts (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru, Regional Governments). •Participates in programmatic technical meetings (inter-area and area) to know the progress of the activities carried out in the area. •Contributes to the preparation of programmatic proposals in Malnutrition and Health.

Accountability Adaptability and Flexibility Commitment to Continuous Learning Communication Creativity Ethics and Values Integrity Planning and Organizing Respect for Diversity Technological Awareness Working in Teams

or demonstrated interest in: • Health •Public health •Immunization
•Nutrition

Lima, capital city of Peru. It is the commercial and industrial center of the country. Central Lima is located at an elevation of 512 feet (156 meters) on the south bank of the Rimac River, about 8 miles (13 km) inland from the Pacific Ocean port of Callao and has an area of 27 square miles. The city forms a modern oasis, surrounded by the Peruvian coastal desert a short distance west of the Andes Mountains. The population of Lima in 2023 is estimated at 10 million 151 thousand in-habitants. It is the fifth largest city in America. The metropolitan area of Lima is also the 27th most populous in the world and is the largest city in Peru.

The Callao seaport is considered part of the city of Lima and forms the Lima Metropolitan Area. Lima is located at a tropical latitude, the cool current of Peru (also called Humboldt) helps to pro-duce a temperate climate throughout the year. The average temperature ranges from 60 to 64 °F (16 to 18 °C) in the winter months of May to November and 70 to 80 °F (21 to 27 °C) in the sum-mer months of December to April.

With a world-renowned gastronomic offer and several tourist attractions, Lima offers good living conditions.