OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) is to help countries and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

During deployment, the duty station may change, and duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Programme.

• Lead the development, consolidation, and maintenance of a country-specific repository of information (at the highest geographic resolution possible) on core public health indicators (e.g. crude and under-five mortality rates, the prevalence of malnutrition, vaccination coverage); updated population estimates (resident, displaced, refugees), standards indicators and values used by partners for monitoring needs and response; vulnerability mapping; nutrition, mortality, and vaccination coverage survey reports; health needs assessment reports.
• Design, in cooperation with technical partners, surveillance guidelines, protocols, surveys, and monitoring/surveillance systems for detection, verification, and response to public health incidents at the national level; ensuring efficiency of data collection, correlation, analysis, interpretation, timely reporting, and coordinate the work of a network of sub-regional monitors, as well as provide technical guidance to the epidemiologists assigned, as required.
• Conduct real-time analysis of outbreak intelligence data, with other team members, for epidemic forecasting and detection, guide team members on data quality improvement, use of data for monitoring of trends, ALERT and ACTION thresholds (triggers), as well as methodologies for performing data quality audit (DQA).
• Oversee data entry, data validation, analysis, and reporting of assessments and surveys. Synergize data received from multiple sources including health information systems, death registries, vertical reporting programs, community-Based Surveillance, and IDSR.
• Coordinate the establishment and functionality of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), early warning systems (including event-based and indicator-based surveillance) for epidemic and pandemic-prone diseases for early detection and response to public health events, as well as, Public Health Management Committee (PHEMC) for potential hazards like infectious diseases, zoonotic events, food safety events, and chemical events as per the national guidelines and standards.
• Contribute to the preparation of other WHO and health cluster communication products (situation reports, health cluster bulletins, donors alerts, and other ad-hoc reports).
• Represent WHO in coordination meetings with partners involved in epidemiology and monitoring.
• 8Develop appropriate training plans for building the core surveillance, alert, and response national capacities in accordance with the requirement for IHR 2005. Oversee the capacity building of health management teams and health facility staff.
• Submit end of assignment report at the end of the assignment.
• Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Essential: An advanced university degree (Master’s level or above) in epidemiology, statistics, database management or public health from an accredited/recognized institute.
• Desirable: Specialized training in communicable diseases.

Experience

• Essential: At least seven years’ relevant experience, some of which should have been obtained in an international context, in quantitative epidemiology and the implementation of public health surveillance, outbreak investigation, and response in humanitarian settings. Previous experience in the implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR).
• Desirable: Prior humanitarian working experience at field level with WHO/UN, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organization, or with an international nongovernmental organization with expertise in disaster and outbreak response.

Functional Knowledge and Skills

• Sound knowledge and skills in database management and statistical analysis, secondary data review, survey designing, and implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems design or use, and public health information management.
• Proven ability to multitask across various planning and implementation processes within a highly demanding environment.
• Demonstrated knowledge, competency, and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response with particular attention to the application of an all-hazards approach in the context of the International Health Regulations and the use of event-based and indicator-based surveillance, as well as descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response.

Use of Language Skills

• Essential: Expert knowledge of English.

Other Skills (e.g. IT)

• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
• Working knowledge of online data collection applications, statistical analysis packages (Stata, SPSS, etc).
• Working knowledge of GIS mapping software (or similar) would be an asset.

Source:https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=2003948&tz=GMT%2B02%3A00