Junior Officer for Environmental Health and Climate Change

Medical & Health

The UN Volunteer supports the Health Specialist in planning, monitoring, and reporting on the environmental health and climate change programme. The environmental health and climate change programme is part of UNICEF’s Healthy Environments for Healthy Children’s Global Programme Framework.

Tragically, one in four children who die before their fifth birthday do so because of unhealthy environments. Lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and other toxic metals impair children’s healthy development. Lead damages the brain of babies and children under the age of five years, causing them lifelong neurological, cognitive, and physical impairment. Around 35 million children in Bangladesh are affected by lead poisoning according to the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation. Informal recycling, unsafe burning of e-waste and medical waste releases toxicants into the air and community. Several of widely used chemicals can be damaging to the health of mothers, children and infants. These include highly hazardous pesticides, asbestos, benzene, dioxins and PCBs, excess fluoride and additional chemicals from household products. These toxic chemicals affect not only children, but also affect pregnant women and the developing fetus, causing miscarriage, still birth and preterm birth.

Globally, Bangladesh is the seventh most affected country by extreme weather events. Heat stress and other consequences of climate change affect children and pregnant women disproportionately. Many children in Bangladesh live in areas that experience multiple, overlapping climate and environmental hazards. UNICEF is working with the government, academia, development partners and private sector to address environmental health issues and climate change in Bangladesh through the Healthy Environments for Healthy Children programme. UNICEF is also supporting the government to conduct the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in 2024 which will include heavy metal measurements in blood of children and pregnant women/lactating mothers for a nationally representative data to inform policy decisions and actions.

Under the direct supervision of the Health Specialist who leads the Environmental health, Climate change and emergency preparedness and response programmes, the UN Volunteer as part of the health team will undertake the following tasks:

• Provide support to the UNICEF health team in the development and implementation of environmental health and climate change program, focusing on mitigation of heavy metal pollution, heat stress, air pollution, and climate change:

1) Participate in health section monthly review meetings.

2) Assist in drafting meeting minutes internally in UNICEF and externally with partners with guidance from supervisor.

3) Support development of a programme implementation tracking sheet using excel to facilitate timely monitoring and action.

4) Assist in the planning and organization of workshops, including preparation of logistics for successful implementation.

5) Assist the team in planning at national level as well as implementation of heavy metal measurement as part of the MICS 2024.

• Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Working with teams • Communication • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Knowledge Sharing • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity • Working in Teams

or demonstrated interest in: • Medicine • Public health
• Environmental health
• Climate change

Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh. Not only is it the capital city, but it is also the largest in the country. It is the centre of political, cultural, and economic life in Bangladesh. The official language is Bengali, while English is the working language of UN Agencies. Good English-speaking medical, dental services, and educational centres are available for internationals.

In recent decades, Dhaka has seen the modernization of services, communications, and public works. The city is attracting large foreign investments and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation; this has reportedly made Dhaka one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Dhaka is connected to other cities by rail, road, and by air and internationals can move easily from one city to another. Dhaka has venerable green spaces, including many gardens and parks, historical places, and nice restaurants.

The weather is tropical - hot and very humid during the summer monsoon season (April-September) and drier and cooler in the winter (October-March). Historically, Bangladesh has been a safe country for internationals so far. While Dhaka is not categorized as a hardship station, the volunteer should be prepared for limitations in freedom of movement on foot, by public transport, and to certain locations.

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Added 9 days ago - Updated 45 minutes ago - Source: unv.org