Public Health Officer

Contract

This is a NO-C contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about NO-C contracts.

1. Background and Justification

* Purpose of the Position

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies Incident Management System (IMS), at the country level, the incumbent will provide technical advice for all WHO strategic categories and related public health programmes, including: i) Strengthening emergency response/resilience and preparedness activities to reduce mortality, morbidity especially due to the impact of outbreaks and or public health emergencies. ii) Advising national and international actors on public health issues related to emergency response. iii) Strengthening the health system, enhancing health equity, tackling the social determinants of health and envisioning the achievement of universal health coverage. iv) Advocate the utilization of reliable information, evidence, innovation and knowledge for improving population health outcomes, throughout the full cycle of the emergency response. v) Liaising with other sectors in providing a public health response in emergencies and outbreaks vii) Providing technical public health input for strategic planning, project management and reporting.

2. Job Description

* Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to build the capacity of Member States to manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations.

* Organizational context

In the duty station, reporting to the state coordinator, and based on priorities set by the Team Lead, the Incident Manager and the WHO Head of Country Office, and working closely with, the incumbent will act as the technical expert for the surveillance programme. S/he will provide technical oversight for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public health policies and programmes pertaining to surveillance of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases particularly those with epidemic and pandemic potentials

* Summary of Assigned Duties

The incumbent will perform some or all of the following duties

1. Assess threats to human life and health, damage to health infrastructure for primary and secondary care, the state of health referral and support systems, including cold chain, laboratory, essential drugs and health information systems, and the vital needs of the affected populations.

2. Collaborate with national authorities and health partners to coordinate and implement public health response activities as part of the health cluster's strategic response; analyse existing coordination mechanisms, designing and recommending improvements.

3. Provide analysis of the public health risks, needs and capacities and advise on priority interventions for WHO and partners; challenges and operational course correctors, as applicable.

4. Monitor progress towards achievement of universal health coverage; analyse social determinants of health and their impact on the incident management system, including identifying inequities, gaps in the delivery of health services or emergency interventions, recommending appropriate actions and innovative approaches to improve the situation.

5. Facilitate the implementation of effective, evidence-based policies, public health programmes and interventions through all life cycles, this might include maternal and newborn health, health promotion and education, NCDs, the elderly, social determinant of health, violence and injury prevention including road safety, gender and health equity and other related areas.

6. Secure information from a broad range of health sectors, analysing such and consolidating health data in trends and trends assessment, with particular attention to surveillance, monitoring and early warning.

7. Coordinate meetings with all relevant partners and incident management team, producing and circulating minutes, related decisions and tracking the latter, and developing detailed lessons learnt reports, recommending improvement to current and future field operations.

8. Provide input to communications and information products (Sitreps, health cluster bulletins, outbreak bulletins etc.) as required.

9. Ensure compliance with IASC principles and the Humanitarian Programme Cycle in delivering WHO's health response.

10. Perform any other related incident-specific duties, as required by the functional supervisor

3. Recruitment Profile

Competencies:

*1. Teamwork

*2. Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

*3. Communication

4. Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

5. Producing results

Functional Knowledge and Skills

Ï. In-depth knowledge of public health programmes with focus on health system, and the Millennium Development Goals.

Iï. Demonstrated knowledge and experience of operational management of health aspects/consequences of humanitarian crises and outbreaks in field settings.

Iiï. Demonstrated skills in capacity building, proposal and report writing, knowledge of and experience with needs assessments in emergency settings, strategic information analysis and planning and ability to anticipate new trends in the field of public health and take actions accordingly.

iv. Managerial skills for the development, implementation and analysis of technical cooperation programmes and activities, including the development of programmatic indicators

Education Qualifications

* Essential

University degree (Master's level or above) in public health and/or health-related fields from an accredited/recognized institute

Desirable

Doctorate degree in public health. Post graduate studies or specialized training in emergency response or disaster management in the context of public health. Diploma in tropical medicine or diploma in disaster management

Experience

* Essential

At least five years of relevant experience, at the national and international levels, in public health in emergencies response or health sector coordination, with emphasis on managing outbreaks and health emergencies and/ or health consequences of emergencies and crises. Experience in capacity building, developing and promoting collaborative partnerships

Desirable

Relevant work experience in WHO, other UN agencies, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or relevant nongovernmental or humanitarian organizations. Experience in capacity building programme planning/development, project management, monitoring and evaluation. Experience with resource mobilization in emergency settings.

4. Use of Language Skills

Expert knowledge of English Language

Other Skills (e.g. IT)

Knowledge of Microsoft Office software applications