Health Specialist - Malaria Vaccine Scaleup (P-4), PG Health (Immunization), Out-posted Nairobi (Temporary Appointment 364days)

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 135,454 USD and 174,640 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.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable. ‘Plasmodium falciparum’ is one of the 5 parasite species that cause malaria in humans, posing the greatest threat.

UNICEF has presence in all malaria-endemic countries. At the country level UNICEF works closely with partners on the ground to deliver a well-integrated continuum of care, providing preventative and curative interventions to the most vulnerable populations at risk of malaria infection. UNICEF is engaged in multiple strategies including extending vector control using insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). UNICEF is also utilizing innovative delivery mechanisms such as seasonal malaria chemoprophylaxis (SMC). UNICEF works to ensure universal access to malaria case management to ensure that once infected with malaria those in need can access services. UNICEF’s equity approach prioritizes support to reach these underserved children through integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) through community health workers deployed to hard-to-reach areas who support ITN distribution, diagnose and treat cases with Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) and Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACT), as well as refer severe cases to health centers and hospitals.

UNICEF’s immunization programme has more than 40 years of experience in reaching children with life-saving vaccines and eliminating and eradicating some of the vaccine-preventable diseases. The breadth of the programme will provide a key opportunity for rolling out the malaria vaccine. Immunization programmes recently adopted the zero-dose approach to access the most vulnerable children and communities experiencing multiple deprivations with the essential vaccines and other key interventions such as nutrition, water and sanitation. UNICEF is also leading social, and behavior change interventions to increase demand and uptake of essential services and to engage communities in the design and delivery of programmes. Being a multi-sectoral agency, UNICEF is well placed to mobilize inter-sectoral programming by identifying key bottlenecks experienced by deprived groups, institutionalizing high quality monitoring and evaluation with feedback loops to allow for quicker action, especially for emergency response, encouraging strong government leadership, and sharpening programming with clearly defined accountabilities at all levels.

For every child, good health….

Under the guidance of the supervisor, the incumbent of this post supports the Immunization Section in HQ in providing day to day assistance to strengthen Regional Office and Country Office capacities to effectively assist countries introducing the malaria vaccines approved by WHO in their national immunization and national malaria control programmes, as part of the other malaria control interventions.

How can you make a difference?

Provide guidance, tools technical assistance and capacity building to regional offices and priority countries in planning and implementing malaria vaccine introduction as part of the other malaria control interventions.

• Support regions to ensure countries develop high quality Gavi applications, and revise National Immunization Strategies (NIS) and National Malaria Control Strategies (NMCP) to introduce malaria vaccines.
• Provide targeted technical assistance to integrate existing immunization equity data and assessments in vaccine introduction plans to ensure countries reach zero-dose and high-risk communities with high coverage.
• Support regions to mobilize multi-sectoral capacity to facilitate countries utilize the opportunity of malaria vaccine introduction to integrate other PHC interventions.

Develop and disseminate programmatic guidance for UNICEF regional and country offices to mobilize multi-sectoral approaches to provide integrated programme support to roll-out malaria vaccine as part of other child health and malaria control interventions, and leverage the opportunity to identify and reach zero-dose communities with multiple PHC interventions and to address immunity gaps due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Develop internal programmatic guidance on multi-sectoral approaches under the guidance of Coverage & Equity team with inputs from the ROs, other teams, sections and programmes (Nutrition, WASH, etc).
• Develop a dissemination plan to introduce the multi-sectoral guidance to the UNICEF regions, countries and external partners.
• Assist with the dissemination of the guidance through regional coordination platforms and other mechanisms.

Support regional and country coordination and decision making for malaria vaccine introduction through regional coordination mechanisms (Regional Working Groups (RWG), Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (RITAG), national immunization programme managers meetings, and similar events).

• Participate in regional coordination mechanisms and provide guidance and technical assistance to facilitate country decision making.
• Facilitate the organization of dedicated sessions to discuss malaria vaccine, malaria control and available UNICEF support.

• Identify remaining data and evidence gaps and needs on vaccine introduction, reaching high coverage and integration with other interventions.

  Support establishing consultant rosters and similar tools as needed to assist regions and countries in timely identifying and deploying the suitable capacity to meet the technical assistance needs for malaria vaccine introduction.

• Identify technical assistance needs of regional and country offices regarding malaria vaccine introduction as part of malaria control.

• Support HQ in advertising and establishing a consultant roster as needed for the utilization of regions and countries.

Document regional and country experiences in introducing and scaling up malaria vaccine as part of the other malaria interventions, and disseminate good practices and lessons learned in appropriate global and regional fora (Malaria Vaccine Coordination Team (MVCT), Regional Working Groups, Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Groups, EPI managers meetings, webinars, etc.)

• Support countries to document lessons learned and good practices to roll-out the malaria vaccine.
• Facilitate knowledge management across countries including the documentation and dissemination of promising practices including building on global and regional fora.
• Assist with planning and implementation of knowledge sharing events to share lessons and good practices to facilitate south-south cooperation and cross-country learning

Conduct periodic monitoring of country progress and report UNICEF data to joint monitoring databases and tools of Gavi partners

• Collect monthly updates from Country Offices regarding progress against activities planned in their TCA proposals, progress of country programmes towards malaria vaccine introduction, challenges faced and needs for support.
• Regularly provide UNICEF updates to the joint monitoring tools of Gavi Alliance partners.

• Participate in the periodic calls of the Malaria Vaccine Coordination Team and its sub-teams and provide UNICEF perspective and inputs.

  Any other cross-cutting tasks to support the routine immunization coverage and equity team on new vaccine introduction.

• This includes contributing to milestone and grant reporting, maintaining a repository of knowledge materials and periodic reports and presentations as needed.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in public health, pediatric health, family health, global/international health, health policy and/or management, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional work experience, especially in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating immunization programmes is required.
• Knowledge and experience in supporting new vaccine introduction preferably in low-and middle-income country context, and familiarity with Gavi Alliance and its country support mechanisms is required.
• Knowledge and experience with malaria control programmes and strategies preferably in a malaria-endemic country context is an asset.
• Relevant working experience in a UN organization and familiarity with global immunization partners is considered as an asset.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to travel for regional/country support and to attend meetings and events.
• Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, French or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability (CRITA), and sustainability

Please click Here to view UNICEF's core values and Here to view our competency framework.

UNICEF competencies required for this post are.

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to including everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination.

UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.

Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF.

UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

“UNICEF 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 at http://www.whed.net/”

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online Salary Estimate Calculator

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.