Public Health Officer - IDSR

Overview

Coordinate strengthening of disease surveillance and epidemiology for WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

You have:

• University degree in medicine, public health, epidemiology or related medical field from an accredited institute.
• At least five years' experience in disease surveillance, prevention and control.
• Proven experience and knowledge of implementing IDSR at country level.
• Excellent knowledge of English.
• Practical working use of advanced statistical software packages (e.g., R, STATA, SAS, SPSS) for epidemiological analysis during emergencies.

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.

Salary

The salary for this job should be more than 3,598 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.

Purpose of the Post:

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, the primary objective of this position is to coordinate the strengthening of disease surveillance and epidemiology by scaling up Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and the International Health regulations (IHR) for timely, detection, reporting and response to public health events

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate unit or field activity (Overview of the programme):

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies 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. The Programme supports countries and coordinates international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

Organizational Context (Describe the work environment, the role of the individual within the team – team member, specialist, adviser, facilitator, coordinator/manager, representative, expert, authority in the field, etc; available guidelines and degree of independence in decision making, and nature and purpose of contact within and outside the Organization):

Under the direct supervision of the HIR Officer and the overall guidance of the EPR Team Lead, the Public Health Officer IDSR will work to strengthen the technical capacity for the implementation of IDSR and epidemiological surveillance. This position involves working in close collaboration with various WHE Programme Team members, WCO, Regional Office and HQ and with a broad range of partners, to provide technical expertise and promote information-sharing.

The incumbent builds interactions with a broad range of external partners, UN and non UN Agencies, national and international institutions to exchange findings and promote information sharing, experience and lessons learnt.

Summary of Assigned Duties (Describe what the incumbent has to do to achieve main objectives; include main achievements expected):

1. Coordinate the scaling up of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response through assessment, capacity building, as well as deployment/implementation of electronic data tools.

2. Contribute to the strengthening data collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting for the country.

3. Conduct regular analysis of priority diseases to understand the epidemiology and burden of infectious diseases in the country.

4. Collaborate with and provide strategic coordination to partners to develop and implement disease surveillance and response plans of action and to monitor progress and level of implementation.

5. Lead and participate with relevant stakeholders to conduct comprehensive assessments of IHR core capacities and gaps to identify areas that need improvement, and to establish or reinforce coordination mechanisms for streamlining implementation of IHR, and to initiate support for building targeted improvements in IHR core capacities.

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. Contribute to the enhancement of national capacities for investigation and risk assessment of public health hazards through the development and implementation of standards and tools

8. Conduct field investigation for outbreak verification, risk assessment and provide technical support for rapid public health response to public health emergencies emanating from known or unknown disease pathogens

9. Liaises with and utilizes partnerships in other UN Agencies, Donor, or research institutions in the surveillance and field epidemiology to position the technical area of work and implementation into Global, Regional and/or National policies.

10. Perform other related duties as assigned

RECRUITMENT PROFILE

Competencies (Describe the core, management or leadership competencies required - See WHO competency model – list in order of priority, commencing with the most important ones – identify a minimum of three and a maximum of five competencies):

1) Building and promoting partnerships across WHO and beyond.

2) Moving forward in a changing environment

3) Ensuring effective use of resources

4) Fostering integration and teamwork

5) Communicating in a credible and effective way

Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post): Describe the essential knowledge and the skills specific to the position

· Basic knowledge of emergency preparedness and response,

· Ability to lead policy level dialogue, advocacy and partnerships on health emergency preparedness and response

· Comprehensive knowledge of the theory, principles, methods and techniques of public health and health emergency management

· Good understanding of relevant web and mobile applications

· Demonstrated innovative, analytical and problem- solving skills;

· Coordination, monitoring and evaluation skills.

Education (Qualifications):

Essential: University degree in medicine, public health, epidemiology, tropical medicine, or other related medical field from an accredited/recognized institute.

Desirable: Post graduate Degree in Epidemiology, Public Health or related health field

Experience:

Essential: At least a minimum of five years' experience in disease surveillance, prevention and control, with some practical experience in disease prevention and control programs at subnational and national level. Proven experience and knowledge of implementing IDSR at country level. Practical working use of advanced statistical software packages (e.g., R, STATA, SAS, SPSS etc) for epidemiological analysis during emergencies will be an asset.

Desirable: Experience in conducting disease surveillance, prevention and control in humanitarian settings. Relevant work experience in outbreaks and/or health emergency management. Related experience in development and implementation of strategies and action plans within WHO and/or UN agencies. Experience of working with event-based surveillance; good understanding in inter-agency collaboration or in WHO, UN Agencies or other international organizations, relevant non-governmental, health cluster partners or humanitarian organizations would be an asset.

Languages:

Essential: Excellent knowledge of English.

Desirable : Knowledge of the local language(s)

Other Skills (e.g., IT):

• Skills in monitoring and evaluation and public health information management.

• Good computer skills in Microsoft office, EPI Info, SPSS, STATA;

Potential interview questions