Pharmacist

Volunteering Medical & Health

Overview

Provide technical advice on pharmaceutical matters for health programs

You have:

• At least three years’ related experience in managing emergency Health and Pharmacy logistics supply operations and outbreak response support in international organizations/institutions.
• Demonstrated experience in pharmaceutical management.
• Excellent technical knowledge in the field of medical products with focus on treatment of diseases with high public health impact.
• Excellent understanding of the concepts of access to medical products, supply chain management, rational selection and use.
• Independent judgement; and ability to anticipate new trends in the field of medical products and take actions accordingly.
• Working knowledge of medical product regulation is an asset.
• Affinity with or interest in health issues and development, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.
• Knowledge of programme management and functioning of Health Cluster and the Humanitarian system is an asset.

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The UNV assignment will be part of the WHO Country Office for Myanmar, Health Cluster and Humanitarian Structure. The mission of the Health Cluster is to collectively prepare for and responds to humanitarian and public health emergencies to improve health outcomes of affected populations in Myanmar, through timely, predictable, appropriate and effective coordinated health action. The Cluster operates in 6 core functions which are: support to service delivery, assessment and public health information, planning and health response strategy, M&E of health response, building capacity and advocacy.

Myanmar has activated its Health Cluster in Rakhine and Kachin in January 2013 and countrywide in August 2021.

The Public Health Information Service (PHIS) Standard https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/standards-for-public-health-information-services is activated and expected to deliver with health cluster activation. Conceptually, the PHIS are grouped into the following three domains of information: - Health Status and Threats for affected populations - Health Resources and Services Availability, namely information on preventive and curative health services, infrastructure, personnel and supplies provided by health authorities or other actors, as well as the degree of access that affected populations actually have to those services. - Health System Performance, namely information on the sheer output, coverage, utilization and quality (or effectiveness) of health services available to the crisis-affected population.

The PHIS Toolkit assembles guidance, templates and best-practice examples for each core, additional and context-specific public health information service, as outlined in the PHIS standards. The Toolkit also includes additional general tools and resources to support information management functions in activated Health Clusters – https://healthcluster.who.int/our-work/task-teams/information-management-task-team/public-health-information-services-toolkit.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Health Cluster Coordinator or his/ her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer will: • Provide technical advice on pharmaceutical matters in all program cycle stages for WHO Myanmar, with a strong focus on project proposal development involving pharmaceutical procurement, forecasting and quantification of pharmaceutical supply, inventory man-agement and supply-chain related information systems. • Provide technical advice on quality control and assurance systems for procurement, supply chain management, distribution and storage, including cold storage, of medical products and issues related to access of quality-assured medical products, market intel-ligence, pricing and the appropriate use of medical products at the various health care levels. • Empower health partners with essential tools and guidance on quality assurance in local procurement of medical products, including the creation of checklists and standard oper-ating procedures (SOPs). • Promote best practices for maintaining quality during storage and transport of medical products, including cold chain medicines, to prevent degradation and contamination, through the training of relevant staff. • Develop mitigation plan to reduce, avoid, anticipate shortages of health products during the IMS Event Response including on prevention of AMR. • Conduct a localized Market Quality Assessment and establish list of pre-qualified supplier (GMP and Certificate of Origin tracking matrix) • Train health partners in quality assurance tools and checklists for locally procured phar-maceuticals to mitigate the risks of poor-quality medicines and AMR. • Coordinate with other relevant Health Cluster partners as per identified needs, based on the above described Terms of Reference, to harness technical collaboration and knowledge development at the benefit of all Health Cluster members.

• Professionalism • Integrity • Teamwork and respect for diversity • Commitment to continuous learning • Planning and organizing • Communication • Flexibility

• At least three years’ related experience in managing emergency Health and Pharmacy logistics supply operations and outbreak response support in international organiza-tions/institutions. • Demonstrated experience in pharmaceutical management. • Excellent technical knowledge in the field of medical products with focus on treatment of diseases with high public health impact. • Excellent understanding of the concepts of access to medical products, supply chain management, rational selection and use. • Independent judgement; and ability to anticipate new trends in the field of medical products and take actions accordingly. • Working knowledge of medical product regulation is an asset. • Affinity with or interest in health issues and development, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System. • Knowledge of programme management and functioning of Health Cluster and the Humanitarian system is an asset.

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 km (1,200 miles) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The country has an estimated population of 51 million people. Myanmar's capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city is Yangon.

The country is ethnically diverse. The government recognizes 135 distinct ethnic groups but the Bamar form an estimated 68% of the population. Temperatures in Myanmar can vary from place to place. In general, the Myanmar climate is hot throughout the year, with temperatures averaging 27 degrees Celsius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The months of March, April, and May the weather in Myanmar can be very hot and humid, especially around the coastal regions. This increase in temperature is caused by the onset of the rainy season. Despite the hot temperatures, there are areas that can be quite pleasant. The interior areas such as Inle Lake and Bagan can be quite a bit cooler than the coastal regions. The mountainous areas can also be cooler as they have a much higher altitude.

Yangon is the busiest and most populous city in Myanmar. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government relocated the capital to the purpose-built city of Nay Pyi Taw in central Myanmar. With over 7 million people, Yangon is Myanmar's largest city and its most important commercial center. Yangon boasts of all modern amenities, malls, hotels, cafes and a well-served international/domestic airport.

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Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unv.org