Technical Officer (TB Operational Research Initiatives)

Contract

This is a P-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 2 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 103,732 USD and 140,894 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.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

TheDivision of Country Health Programmes (CHP) assists country efforts to reducethe burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases and address thesocial, economic and environmental determinants of health, and promotespolicies and actions for health through stewardship of the WHO European HealthyCities Network. It focuses on health promotion measures; prevention and controlof noncommunicable diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases,chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, and risks related to tobacco use,physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and the harmful use of alcohol;communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, STIs and hepatitis, andvector-borne and neglected tropical diseases; elimination and control ofvaccine-preventable diseases and advocacy for increased use of vaccines;containing and controlling antimicrobial resistance; addressing existing andemerging environmental health risks, and supporting violence and injuryprevention. A determination to ensure universal access to people-centredquality health services across the continuum of care is matched by enrichingthe evidence base for policy design and interventions using social, culturaland behavioural approaches, to drive implementation of innovation at national,regional and local levels.Throughthe lens of the European Program of Work 2020-2025 (EPW) and with thecommitment to leave no one behind, the Joint Infectious Diseases unit willidentify opportunities and innovations within and beyond health with the aim todirect health policies towards the most effective country tailoredinterventions and to accelerate progress towards the targets of SustainableDevelopment on eliminating TB, ending AIDS and malaria, andcombating viral hepatitis. The unit will foster innovation through conductingoperational research for the fast uptake of new technological advances, seekingnew perspectives and identifying new approaches to unlock country specificbottlenecks to ensure that needs of the most vulnerable and hard to reachpopulations are met and that provision of affordable quality health servicesfor TB, HIV/STI and viral hepatitis do not incur in catastrophic expenditure.It will also seek synergies to better define the links and develop a responsebetween climate change and expansion of Vector-Borne Diseases in the Region.Toensure patient-centered quality care, the unit will work across the Division ofCountry Health Programmes, Division of Health Policies and Systems and withrelevant Geographically Disbursed Offices, WHO Collaborating Centres, regionalplatforms, partners, community-based and civil society organizations towardsensuring that elements of decentralization and simplification of prevention,diagnosis and treatment of TB, HIV/STI and hepatitis are part of and deliveredthrough Primary Health Care and community platforms.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The purpose of the post is directly related to WHOEURO's work on 1)implementation of regional operational research initiatives focused onimproving treatment success for TB and drug-resistant TB; 2) contribution togeneration of evidence through effective research data management; 3)strengthening country capacity for operational research and rapid uptake ofinnovations; and 4) promotion of good clinical care for TB and drug-resistantTB through research.Contribute to an environment that promotes changes, monitors impact toadvance the agenda of individual diseases, and encourages new ideas andperspective, leverages team members' strengths and cohesion and recognizes andrewards collaborative behaviour.Under directsupervision of the Regional Adviser on TB, DR-TB, the incumbent will assume thefollowing responsibilities and achieve the following objectives:Coreresponsibilities in assisting Member States in relation to tuberculosis anddrug-resistant TB, as part of country efforts to strengthen health systemsinclude to: Support the Regional TB Advisor in coordination and implementationof the regionaloperational research initiatives focused on improving treatment success for TBand drug-resistant TB in countries of eastern Europe and central Asia. Support the regional efforts in strengtheningthe country capacity for implementation of OR with the focus on datamanagement, data analysis and use of data in decision-making. Facilitate the organization of the clinical capacity buildingcomponent of the regional operational research initiatives with the focus on proper and timely management of adverse events and co-morbidities.Collaborate with team members of theunit to ensure linkages between different programmatic streams with regionaloperational research initiative on mSTR for MDR/RR-TB.Support Regional TB Advisor in coordinationwith partners across other operational research initiatives on TB anddrug-resistant TB in the WHO European Region to ensure harmonization of dataand approaches to technical assistance.Perform other duties as assigned.Specific responsibilities and duties will focus on followingproject-related activities: Functioning of thetask force of the regional operational research (OR) on introduction offully-oral modified shorter treatment regimens (mSTR) for MDR/RR-TB andregional OR on concomitant treatment of MDR/RR-TB and viral hepatitis C.Collaboration with WHOCountry Offices and national counterparts (study teams) to ensure alignmentwith operational research protocols, data management, verification and quality. Supporting Member Stateswith development of national study protocols and receiving necessary approvalsfrom national and international ethics review bodies. Strengthening the researchcapacity in countries through trainings and quarterly monitoring missionswithin the regional OR initiatives. Functioning of theregional Virtual Medical Consilium for mSTR by organizing series of webinars onMDR-TB.Data harmonization andverification to enable development of publications (manuscripts, reports) withthe use of evidence generated by the regional operational research initiatives.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: University degree (Bachelor's level) (in a social science, public healthor relevant field. Desirable: University degree (Master's level) in any of the above fields. Trainingin research with the focus on TB.

Experience

Essential: A minimum of two years' experience in public health in the area of TB research.Demonstrated experience implementing research and operational research projects.Demonstrated experience in coordinating multi-country researchprojects. Desirable: Relevant experience with(in)WHO, UN organizations/agencies, international institutions, state organizationsor NGOs. Demonstrated experience coordinating multi-country research projectsin the WHO European Region, particularly in eastern Europe and central Asia.Experience in proposal and project development and working with GFATM and otherdonors. Demonstrated experience developing research methodology, data analysisand report writing. Demonstrated experience with databases management (EpiInfo,REDCap) and operating statistical packages (SPSS, Stata).

Skills

Demonstrated knowledge of researchand programmatic aspects of TB and drug-resistant TB management.Goodcommunication, facilitation, planning and analytical skills.Demonstrated skills in writingconcise reports.Emotional awareness: the ability to identify andharness one's emotions and apply them to tasks; and the ability to manageemotions, which includes both regulating one's own emotions when necessary andhelping others to do the same.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences Communication Producing results Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French,Russian,Germa.

REMUNERATION

WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars. The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 50,377 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 2271 per month for the duty station indicated above. Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• 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.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• 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 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.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• WHO has a mobility policy which can be found at the following link: http://www.who.int/employment/en/. Candidates appointed to an international post with WHO are subject to mobility and may be assigned to any activity or duty station of the Organization throughout the world.

• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.

• *For WHO General Service staff who do not meet the minimum educational qualifications, please see e-Manual III.4.1, para 220.