Technical Officer (Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Immunization)

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.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The main objective of the VDI programme in the WHO Country Office in Viet Nam is to support the Ministry of Health, particularly the national and regional EPI, and relevant institution in strengthening their capacities to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate VPD activities in good collaboration with other partners and stakeholders. It is to establish and leverage the impact of an effective prevention and control programme that targets the reduction of morbidity and mortality resulting from diseases, through a comprehensive approach to immunization with focus on equity, that is made timely and responsive through ground level surveillance and the promotion of related health interventions.

The VDI programme in the WHO Country Office supports national counterparts to implement national immunization plans and strategies with focus on equity barriers to immunization by strengthening service delivery, immunization monitoring, vaccine regulation and safety, and local managers' capacity empowerment. The disease epidemiological context in the country also requires more and more detailed analysis with enhancing surveillance quality in sustainable system.

There are increasing needs to advise national immunization policy and programming as a mid-income country to innovate and prioritize high impact interventions in the situation of graduating from external resources. The national EPI will develop the five-year national immunization plan 2021-2025 which will be a turning point to national EPI including strategies to overcome above mentioned challenges, in line with the WHO Vision of Immunization Agenda 2021-2030 and the Regional Strategic Framework for VPDs and immunization in the Western Pacific 2021-2030. This situation necessitates sustained quality technical assistance by WHO for the national and regional EPI and relevant stakeholders.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Under the supervision of the Coordinator, Disease Control and Health Emergency, and the guidance of the HWO, the incumbent will perform the following functions:

1. Provide technical support to national EPI including on site, implementing national strategy for strengthening service delivery and immunization monitoring in achieving elimination, eradication and/or control goals of VPDs in line with immunization-related strategies and initiatives at national, regional and global levels within the mandate of various WHO programmes including VPDs surveillance, VPDs data management, vaccine advocacy and national regulatory control, communication on vaccine hesitancy;

2. Assist in liaising with international partners and/or alliances, national EPI programme and relevant national institutions to support immunization-related activities including resource mobilization, and in planning, implementing, monitoring/evaluating and reports to donors of VDI activities;

3. Identify research needs and assist in implementating the immunization-related research agenda;

4. Upon request of national counterparts, collaborate with its staff in implementing WHO-funded and other relevant activities towards successful VPDs control including help with the organization and management of workshops, trainings, consultancies and other activities arranged by the WHO Country Office;

5. Represent WHO in meetings and events organized by national counterparts and other partners;

6. Assist in translating and interpreting (Vietnamese to English and English to Vietnamese) relevant document for information, and necessary advice in particular relevant to VPD control activities as necessary; and

7. Perform other related duties as may be required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: University degree in medicine from a recognized university. Desirable: Advanced university degree in public health or related fields of study.

Experience

Essential: At least five years' working experience in the development and implementation of communicable disease control programmes/projects, experience in writing proposals and reports. Desirable: Experience in providing technical assistance to or working with the Ministry of Health. Demonstrated experience in the control of communicable diseases and policy formulation and implementation, preferably immunization-related programme. Experiences in writing grant proposals and donor reports. Experience in working with UN agencies and/or nongovernmental organizations and partners, an asset.

Skills

- Excellent in interpersonal communication and negotiation; strong at coordination, collaboration, building and maintaining partnerships, strong in advocacy in order to assist country counterparts in negotiating with development partners.

- Skills in planning, training, monitoring, and evaluation of interventions, and in developing locally adapted tools. Ability to develop proposals and reports.

- Ability to work harmoniously as a member of a team, adapt to diverse educational and cultural backgrounds and maintain a high standard of personal conduct, as well as to interact professionally with health professionals at various levels, government officials, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies.

- Extensive background in the control of communicable diseases particularly in VPDs, epidemiology, and public health programme planning, implementation and reporting.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences Communication Moving forward in a changing environment Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Expert knowledge of Vietnamese. Desirable:

REMUNERATION

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 49,066 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

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.

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

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice.

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

• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.