Surveillance Officer - Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD)

Contract

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

Purpose of the position

WHO Nepal Country Office supports the Government of Nepal (GoN) in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of national health policies, strategies, and plans as guided by the WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS). WHO Country Office collaborates with GoN and relevant stakeholders to support their efforts for achieving national health goals including control of VPD as envisioned under strategic objective 2 (Effective delivery of priority public health programme including vaccine-preventable diseases-VPD) of WHO Nepal CCS. GoN has achieved significant gains in progress against VPD, like eliminating polio, a massive reduction in the incidence of measles and Japanese encephalitis and has introduced several new vaccines in its national immunization programmes. GoN has a declared goal of achieving measles elimination by 2023. Sustaining a sensitive surveillance information system for polio, measles, and other selected VPDs is essential to guide immunization programmes in achieving these goals.

Under the overall guidance of the Team Lead WHO IPD and direct supervision of the National Professional Officer- Surveillance Cluster Lead, the incumbent will work in close collaboration with WHO-IPD team to provide technical assistance to the Family Welfare Division (FWD), National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) and/or other relevant divisions of Department of Health Services (DOHS) and Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), to provide technical assistance for measles and other priority vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) surveillance to ensure surveillance performance standards are met, data analyzed and disseminated for action.

Summary of Assigned Duties:

A VPD Surveillance Officer, stationed at WHO IPD main office- in Kathmandu, will be working under the overall guidance of the Team Lead- IPD and direct supervision of the National Professional Officer- Surveillance, to enhance VPD surveillance activities with a primary focus on measles-rubella elimination activities, sustaining polio-free status, maintaining neonatal tetanus elimination and control of Japanese encephalitis including monitoring of other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Specifically, the VPD Surveillance Officer will have the following tasks/responsibilities:

1.Technical support to achieve Measles and Rubella elimination:

• • Provide technical assistance in the surveillance of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in accordance with national goals and WHO standards and targets.
  • Assist in the measles-rubella epidemiologic investigations including monitoring of field surveillance activities, and subnational measles-rubella surveillance performance indicators.
  • Provide technical support to national immunization program (NIP), subnational health authorities, and WHO IPD field offices for suspected measles and rubella outbreaks investigation and appropriate surveillance and immunization response.
  • Coordinate with the national measles laboratories to ensure measles, rubella, and CRS lab result are received on time and adequate lab supplies delivered for smooth and uninterrupted laboratory surveillance activities.
  • Coordinate with the government’s program division on sharing updates on measles-rubella programmatic risk assessment findings with provinces.
  • Support in draft and/or review of measles-rubella and CRS surveillance guidelines and update of operational guidelines/standard operating procedures, as needed.
  • Coordinate with other existing government surveillance systems (e.g., EDCD unit, Laboratory) to align and reconcile data reported from different surveillance systems in the country.

2.Provide technical support to sustain polio-free status:

• Technical assistance to program division in AFP surveillance activities and review of AFP surveillance indicators.
• Technical assistance in the expansion of environmental surveillance sites for poliovirus in all priority provinces.
• Conduct a quarterly desk review of polio surveillance status and provide constructive feedback to local government through the program division.
• Assist in draft and or review of polio-related guidelines/SOP in line with global polio eradication initiative.
• Coordinate with the program division to share an update on polio risk assessment findings and underperforming polio districts with subnational health authorities.
• Collaborate with Data and Immunization cluster to triangulate AFP/Environmental surveillance data to enhance AFP surveillance performance at the sub-national level.

3.Provide technical support for control of Japanese Encephalitis/AES and other priority VPD (e.g., neonatal tetanus):

• Provide technical support in acute encephalitis/JE and neonatal tetanus (NT) surveillance in accordance with national guidelines and WHO targets.
• Provide technical support to the subnational government in control of AES/JE and sustaining neonatal tetanus elimination through advocacy meetings.
• Assist in draft and or review of AES guidelines and JE control strategic guideline in line with global guidelines.

4.Use VPD surveillance data for action:

• Analyse surveillance data to provide periodic feedback to immunization program and rapid response teams to identify high-risk areas for appropriate response
• With guidance from MO (EPI), coordinate across IPD clusters and Govt. counterparts to facilitate the use of surveillance data to drive response actions.
• Analyse surveillance data and other information to identify data and surveillance quality issues and take appropriate steps to correct them.
• Technical assistance for the periodic (quarterly) review of reporting units’ status and engagement of private sectors in VPD reporting.

5.Capacity building:

• Identify VPD surveillance training needs, plan, implement and evaluate relevant training and capacity-building activities at various levels of the IPD team, as well as government staff and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate with the program division to conduct national-level and provincial-level surveillance reviews and advocacy meetings with private hospitals and medical professionals to enhance VPD surveillance activities at sub-national levels.

6.Support National VPD expert committee meetings and supervisory field visits of priority districts.

7. Participate and actively engage in VPD and laboratory meetings with partners and stakeholders (e.g., NPHL and FWD) to provide quality technical input for strengthening VPD surveillance activities.

8. Function as a team player and perform other relevant duties as assigned by the supervisors. This includes duty travel or duty-station reassignment on short notice as per the program requirements.

Qualification****:

Education:

Essential: University degree in Medicine (MBBS) or equivalent from a recognized university.

Desirable: Postgraduate in Public Health, International health, epidemiology, or in an allied discipline.

Experience:

Essential: At least three years’ experience in vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) surveillance, immunization, or related health field.

Desirable:

• a work experience in immunization and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and/or control at a managerial level in the government public health system or INGOs or NGOs or bilateral or multilateral international agencies.
• Previous experience working with WHO/UN experience in country/region/HQ.
• Experience in public health emergency preparedness and response.

Functional Knowledge and Skills

Excellent knowledge of VPD surveillance and VPD disease epidemiology.

Other Skills: computer literate, data analysis, and writing skills.

WHO Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Producing results
• Ensuring the effective use of resources

Use of Language Skills: Essential: Expert knowledge of English and Nepali

Grade: SSA, Level- 9

Duty Station: WHO IPD Central office, Kathmandu

Additional Information

• This vacancy is applicable to Nepalese nationals only
• This Vacancy Notice may be used to fill similar positions at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test and interviews will be used as a form of screening
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons recruited in the local commuting area of the duty station.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• Any extension of appointment would be subject to programmatic requirements, performance of the incumbent and availability of funds.
• Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply.