NPO-Malaria / CD / Epidemiologist at World Health Organization (WHO)

Posted on: Mon 17-07-2023

World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: NPO-Malaria / CD / Epidemiologist

Job ID: 2306461

Location: Nigeria

Grade: NO-C

Schedule: Full-time

Contractual Arrangement: Fixed-term appointment

Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): 1 Year

Organization: World Health Organization and Other Entities

Purpose of the Position

The purpose of the position is to accelerate the scale-up of malaria, and other vector borne & tropical diseases through - Implementing effective policies and strategies adapted to local needs;
Increasing the involvement of communities, health professionals, non-governmental Organizations and the private sector by building on the district health system and strong partnerships; the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the National Malaria Elimination Plan to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Global Malaria technical strategy and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through universal health coverage (UHC). (Strengthening surveillance, monitoring and evaluation).
The incumbent will work in collaboration with the TVD technical team and UCN cluster lead in implementation of the Global/Regional/Country specific technical strategies, through the country malaria and communicable diseases/neglected tropical diseases implementation plans and in alignment with the WHO GPW 13 and Country Cooperation Strategy/Country Support Plan.
The position will coordinate the activities of the Organization with those of the implementing partners within the assigned zones, in alignment with the overall framework of the country's National Malaria Strategic Plans and other vector borne diseases/NTDs strategic plans.

Objectives of the Programme and the immediate Strategic Objectives

Malaria and other tropical and VBD Diseases/NTDs Programme is part of and contributes to the work of the Universal health coverage/Communicable and non-communicable diseases (UHC/UCN) cluster in the WHO Nigeria country office.
The strategic agenda of the cluster is to reduce disease burden in Nigeria, by guiding disease control agenda, and using analytics to inform strategic investments and tailored interventions for disease control.
The comprehensive whole of society, people-centered, integrated approaches to disease control underpins the work of this cluster and involves:
Coherent implementation of triple response – technical response: implementing diseases specific normative guidance, promoting intervention mixes and deploying medical commodities; health systems response: building capacities of district service delivery systems in disease mapping and stratification, interventions tailoring, and sector/subsector planning; and multi-sectoral response: addressing socio-economic and environmental. determinants of diseases through mobilizing non-health sectors, communities and stakeholders;
Disease control partnership of public and private sectors, health and non[1]health sectors; and
Community involvement in targeted high risk communities, focused on managing determinants of diseases, health services demand creation and accountability by local health stewards.

The people centered, integrated approaches to disease control involves:

Integrated guidance on disease control for each health service delivery platform, a move away from stand-alone disease specific guidance; and
Integrated and efficient disease control investments in strengthening the capacity of appropriate health services delivery platforms through deployment of appropriate technologies and analytics to guide stratification of disease risks across population groups in order to develop and deploy comprehensive packages of interventions appropriate to each targeted population group and health service delivery platform, as well as monitor population access, coverage and impact to leave no one behind.
The specific objectives of the UCN cluster to which the TVD programme contributes, are to:
Provide leadership on disease control coordination, partnership and resource mobilization;
Contribute to the development of WHO disease control technical products, services and tools including adoption of new technologies and innovations;
Support generation and use of strategic information for action and decision making including optimizing investment; and
Provide or facilitate provision of technical support in deployment of WHO technical products and services and institutional capacity building, including support to national disease programmes and regulatory authorities.

Organizational Context

Describe the individual role of the incumbent within the team, the guidance and supervision received and training or briefing provided to others:

Reporting to the Zonal Coordinator, with managerial oversight from the Field Coordinator and technical guidance from the UCN cluster lead through the TVD Technical officer in collaboration with other specialists at WCO, the officer will provide technical support to the Ministry of Health and implementing partners to facilitate reduction of Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases burden in all the states within the zone.

Summary of Assigned Duties

Describe what the incumbent has to do to achieve main objectives:

Provide technical assistance for the scale-up and management of the malaria & other communicable diseases/NTDs control/elimination programme by working with colleagues in the Office and with counterparts in the Government and partners in the preparation of work plans, action plans, budgets, procurement specifications and reports as required by the Government and donors.
Support capacities building efforts on evidence generation, data triangulation and use of analytics for disease control agenda setting and to guide investments; advocate and support use data on disease occurrence (incidence and mortality), interventions coverage, health services access, to develop tailored national policies and operational responses in member states
Technical support and institutional capacity building for disease control support - coordinate implementation of people-centered and integrated approaches to disease control through development of tools and guidance; advocacy with partners, collaboration with programmes and teams; and capacity building, monitoring and evaluation.
Oversee the development and implementation of regional and country capacity-building policies, strategies, and approaches towards the implementation of best practices on all aspects of malaria and other tropical and VBD prevention and treatment scale-up, including improving access to medicines.
Facilitate appropriate technical support in the implementation of WHO technical products and services, including guidance on comprehensive, whole of society approaches, as well as people-centered and integrated approaches to malaria and other VBDs and disease control investing.
Facilitate the development of Public-Private partnerships for the delivery of malaria control services; provide technical guidance to partners for entomological surveillance and conduct national surveys and other operational research studies and evaluations.
Collaborate with other programmes to strengthen supply chain management of antimalarial drugs and other commodities, including quality monitoring and the fight against substandard and counterfeit drugs.
Serve as the WHO Focal Point for providing technical assistance and support towards all activities against malaria and other Tropical and Vector Borne Diseases/NTDs in the zone and provide consistent support to all relevant government institutions and civil society actors
Oversee the collaborative and proactive support to countries in the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation policies and strategies to facilitate reporting on trends in health systems performance and on progress towards regional and national malaria and other tropical and VBD/NTDs targets, including promoting the dissemination of lessons learned and good practices.
Contribute to the coordinated investment of malaria and other tropical and VBD control resources in strengthening health services delivery platforms to deliver optimally for disease control in the region.
Lead the strengthening of WHO collaboration with the national public health institutes (NPHI) in Nigeria and specialized networks, with the aim of facilitating coherence and collaboration; - Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.
Perform any other tasks as requested by the WHO Representative and the direct supervisor;
Perform other related duties as required or directed, including support to the Administration and the Representative's Office

Recruitment Profile

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: University Degree in Health Sciences, including Medicine, Pharmacy, Microbiology, Entomology, Epidemiology, or Public Health.
Desirable: Master's degree in Public Health or Epidemiology. Degree in Tropical Diseases, Malariology, Neglected Tropical Diseases or epidemiology is an added advantage

Experience

Essential: At least five (5) years’ experience in planning, implementing and monitoring-evaluation of disease prevention and control activities
Desirable: Experience in the field of malaria and other tropical and VBDs control. Relevant working experience with the WHO/UN or other INGO experience would be an asset.

Competencies:

Building and promoting partnerships across the Organization and beyond
Communication
Ensuring the effective use of resources
Teamwork.
Producing results

Functional Knowledge and Skills:

Extensive experience in thought leadership, problem solving approaches, and use of the logical frameworks in health programme development.
Extensive knowledge of policies, strategies and programme interventions related to Malaria/TVDs.
Mastery and broad knowledge of at least one related discipline and approaches (malaria or VBDs vector control, chemoprevention, case management, performance management);
Demonstrated expertise in strategic and multisectoral planning; research; performance monitoring, as applied to programmes and reporting; extensive knowledge and skills in use of data and information for decision-making and strategic planning; track record of recognizing and addressing changing conditions.
Working knowledge of WHO rules and procedures, mandates, strategies and action plans (global, regional and country[specific);
Budgeting and financial management; partnership and resource mobilization; communication and people management.
Other Skills (e.g., IT) Good level of computer literacy; the ability to analyze and manage electronic information; and familiarity with eHealth tools including epidemiological and statistical software; excellent writing skills

Languages: