Consultant - Vpd Surveillance Officer

1.Purpose of consultancy:

The consultant will support the overall coordination and implementation of the country case study project activities at WHO Regional level.

2.Background

The Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) Programmeis part of and contributes to the work of the Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Non-communicable diseases (UHC/UCN) cluster in the WHO African region. The strategic agenda of the cluster is to reduce disease burden in the WHO African Region, by guiding disease control agenda in Africa, and using analytics to inform strategic investments and tailored interventions for disease control. This approach is underpinned by the guiding principles of comprehensive whole of society, people-centred, integrated approaches to disease control. The comprehensive whole of society approaches to disease control involves: (a) 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; (b) disease control partnership of public and private sectors, health and non-health sectors; and (c) 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 centred, integrated approaches to disease control involves: (a) integrated guidance on disease control for each health service delivery platform, a move away from stand-alone disease specific guidance; and (b) 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 to develop and deploy comprehensivepackages 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 VPD programme contributes, are to: (i) provide leadership on disease control coordination, partnership and resource mobilization; (ii) contribute to the development of WHO disease control technical products, services and tools including adoption of new technologies and innovations; (iii) support generation and use of strategic information for action and decision making including optimizing investment; and (iv) 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. Supporting comprehensive Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) surveillance systems is an integral part of the strategic priorities 1 and 5 of the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), which is the overarching multi-partner framework for improving immunization systems and performance in this decade. In this regard, the WHO AFRO Investment case for VPD surveillance envisions supporting countries to build a sustainable comprehensive VPD surveillance system.

The WHO-AFRO VPD program, in collaboration with the VPD Surveillance and Risk Assessment team within the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (HQ/IVB) and the US Centres for Disease Control (US-CDC), is planning to undertake country case studies (CCS) to describe the structure and function of the present VPD surveillance systems in a few countries in the Region (1-2 from each level of AFRO VPD surveillance maturity grid) in 2023-2024.WHO AFRO VPD program would like to recruit a consultant at P4 grade level to support the coordination and implementation of the country case study project activities at regional level.

3.Deliverables:

The following deliverables are expected from the consultancy:

·Coordination of project activities between WHO country offices, WHO AFRO, WHO HQ and the CDC

·Liaise with the various VPD disease control teams

·Support the adoption and adaptation of the tools in each of the countries

·Support the field work at country level to gather data on the VPD surveillance systems

·Support countries in the analysis of data and write up of the activity reports

·Produce regular updates on the status of implementation of the project activities at country level

·Lead the development of the final report summarizing the findings from the project

Countries

Key Outputs

·Smooth coordination and regular communication attained between WHO country offices, WHO AFRO, WHO HQ and the CDC on the project activities

·Project countries provided with technical support to adapt/ adopt the case study data collection tools

·Project countries supported technically and financially to gather data on the VPD surveillance systems

·Data from the project countries analyzed and interpreted for the write up of the activity reports

·Regular updates produced on the status of implementation of the project activities at country level

·The final project report developed summarizing the findings from across the project countries in the Region

4.Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Éducation (Qualifications)

Master degree with an advanced degree in public health.

Desirable:

·Project co-ordination and support for VPD surveillance or overall disease surveillance programs in the region

·Experience coordinating disease surveillance or EPI program reviews

Experience

·A minimum of 7 yearsof national and international experience in vaccine preventable diseases, immunization programs, new vaccine's introduction, vaccines logistics management and related activities

·Experience with WHO or other UN agencies would be an asset

·Working in a multi-cultural setting or in multiple countries

·Demonstrated knowledge on principles, practices, methods, and techniques of disease control programs

·Experience in working and collaboration with wide range of stakeholders

·Experience in project management, analysis and development of capacity building tools and databases for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

·VPD Surveillance,

·IDSR, polio eradication,

·Experience in Surveillance / immunisation program reviews

Languages and level required

·Excellent knowledge of English and/or French with a good working knowledge of the other.

5.Location

AFRO Regional Office Brazzaville

6.Remuneration and budget

Level – P4

Monthly rate – 9000

Currency: USD

7.Duration of work:

The consultant is expected to work for 5 months renewable.

Additional Information:

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for 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.
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• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
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