Immunization and Surveillance Monitoring Officers

Contract

This is a No grade contract. More about No grade contracts.

.Organizational Setting

Under the overall guidance of WHO Representative to Myanmar, direct supervision of Technical Officer -Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and close coordination with central Expanded Programme on Immunization (cEPI), Ministry of Health (MoH), the National Technical Officers (NTO) will be recruited to assist cEPI and partners to manage and monitor the COVID_19 vaccination and to support the revitalization of routine immunization and vaccine preventable diseases surveillance. The overall objective of this recruitment is to reduce morbidity and mortality of COVID_19 by providing effective and efficient vaccination to the prioritized groups and to reduce vaccine preventable diseases in the country. The candidate will also provide technical support to the Ministry of Health in line with WHO Myanmar Country Cooperative Strategy (CCS 2019-2023) and Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (2018-2030). Routine tasks are performed independently within detailed guidelines. Overall supervision is focused on the successful delivery of client oriented and efficient implementation of operational services.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

The National Technical Officer will work under the direct supervision of Technical Officer (EPI), WHO and will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Assist in early case detection of outbreak investigation, surveillance and response of COVID_19 and vaccine preventable diseases with proper collection of the laboratory specimens for confirmation of diagnosis and rapid response.
2. Advocacy with key stakeholders such as State/regional and township-level authorities, EHO leaders, ethnic health organizations, CSOs, private sector, influential leaders, religious leaders, camp leaders and local media to inform on revitalization of routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination, selection of prioritized populations and importance of vaccination and to get buy-in for effective rolling out of COVID vaccination and prevention of misinformation.
3. Provide information to vaccine recipients and their caregivers transparently about COVID-19 vaccine information (prioritization of groups, source and type of vaccine administered, benefits of vaccination) through a mix of communication channels to ensure vaccine acceptance.
4. Provide day-to-day technical and programmatic support for planning and implementation of revitalization plan at their respective states and regions.
5. Capacity building of vaccinators including those from ethnic health organizations, private hospitals and clinics, and implementing partners on the COVID_19 immunization including infection prevention and control measures during vaccination, AEFI surveillance and response.
6. Real-time monitoring of the vaccination status and coverage to ensure data quality and timely reporting as well as to capture information on vaccine utilization, wastage and balances.
7. Monitor the readiness of the vaccination posts to ensure safety of vaccinators and clients before, during and after vaccination and to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 infection during vaccination
8. Monitoring and supervision of vaccination posts, cold chain and logistics to ensure the vaccinators are providing vaccination in accordance with SOPs and to ensure the maximum function of vaccination sites for obtaining maximum coverage while meeting IPC measures to minimize risk of COVID-19 transmission
9. Assist in active and passive surveillance of adverse events following immunization – AEFI reporting, prompt response to AEFI, case investigation and causality assessment
10. Share the information such as best practices, lesson learnt, and challenges related to revitalization of COVID-19 vaccination and to identify solution to overcome the challenges.
11. Perform any other additional assignments as needed.
12. To submit assignment report quarterly

Work Relations and Partnerships

The National Technical Officer (NTO) constantly provides technical support to cEPI on implementation and monitoring of Covid_19 vaccination, revitalization of routine immunization and vaccine preventable diseases surveillance. The NTO collaborates with other partners such as UNICEF, UNOPs, Save the Children, Ethnic Health Organizations and others for the Covid_19 vaccination programme.

Impact of functions

Quality and effective Covid_19 vaccination to the prioritized group of community to prevent morbidity and mortality of COVID_19 infection and maximum vaccination coverage for all eligible population groups safely and effectively. Revitalize the routine immunization at all level to prevent vaccine preventable diseases outbreaks; and active and passive surveillance of adverse events following immunization (active and passive AEFI surveillance) from both public and private sectors.

Qualifications

Educational background

Essential

• First university degree in Medicine, Health or Health-related sciences, biological sciences

Desirable

• Post graduate degree in Public Health and/or related fields.

Professional experience and knowledge

• At least 2 years professional experience in the field of health care services at sub-national and township level with government or non-government organization.
• Extensive knowledge of immunization and VPD surveillance program, especially in experience in training, planning, monitoring and implementation of the program.
• Demonstrated knowledge of program management and partnership coordination.
• Advanced organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple assignments
• Strong communication skills – especially with local ethnic leaders and ethnic health organization
• Knowledge and good overview of peace and security issues as well as other key policy issues relevant to the health services.
• Established relationships with major service providers (ethnic, government, private sectors and non-government) operating in ethnic areas preferred

Language Skills

• Expert knowledge of English and Myanmar language (spoken and written).

Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond
• Ensuring the effective use of resources.

NOTE

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and no smoking policy
• Duty station – all states/regions and Naypyitaw