Technical Officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance (AfCDC) at the African Union (AU)

The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999). We are an Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Technical Officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance (AfCDC)

Requisition ID: 1867
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Contract Type: Fixed Term
Reports to: Senior Technical Officer-Epidemic intelligence
Directorate/Department/Organ: Africa CDC
Job Grade: P2

Purpose of Job

• The Surveillance Technical Officer for integrated disease surveillance (IDS) will be responsible for providing technical assistance to African Union (AU) MS in the strengthening of IDS systems at regional, national and sub-national levels.
• This programme is designed to improve the health of the people of Africa by improving coordinated detection of notifiable and priority diseases of public health importance for early preparedness and prompt response.
• This program would also help to generate evidence on the performance of public health interventions for program planning and capacity building for African Union (AU) Member States (MS).
• In carrying out the work of the Division, the IDS Technical Officer will support the implementation of activities within the epidemic intelligence unit in alignment with the other strategic pillars of the Africa CDC.

Main Functions
The Technical Officer for IDS will lead the implementation of the integrated disease surveillance strategy for the continent by:

• Improving IDS at national and sub national levels by training surveillance officers on case-based disease surveillance and by working with other programs to integrate all relevant surveillance sources in national surveillance systems in AU MS
• Improving Africa CDC’ indicator-based surveillance (IBS) system and using thresholds to foster early detection from these sources preparing and disseminating summary reports.
• Improving existing IDS protocols, procedures, training materials, and represent Africa CDC in sharing experiences and advancing the vision of IDS in regional, global meetings and workshops.

Specific Responsibilities

• Develop and/or adapt Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for disease surveillance, reporting and risk assessment, M&E of surveillance systems, and other relevant technical areas in AU MS.
• Conduct event risk assessments and characterizations in coordination with the regional epi-analysts and MS.
• Support countries to strengthen and integrate disease specific surveillance systems for priority diseases into national surveillance system (e.g Influenza, Hepatitis, etc) 
• Serve as a technical resource to the programme concerning epidemic intelligence, outbreak investigation and response following institutional SOPs.
• Work with relevant institutions and partners to develop/adapt training materials and implement trainings on surveillance, data analysis and usage, and preparedness and response to events in AU MS
• Work with AU MS focal points to establish and integrate relevant surveillance sources at all levels in national health information systems and link across sectors.
• Work with AU MS to analyze and use surveillance data to inform the development and implementation of comprehensive national surveillance strategies and other public health actions, including prioritization plans and resourcing needs in the immediate, medium and long term.
• Strengthen the integration of notifiable and priority disease reporting within national surveillance systems.
• Work with AU MS, regional organization and partners to harmonize the implementation of activities on notifiable and priority diseases on the continent.
• Work with epi-analysts to develop monthly epidemiological bulletins and prepare, present, and publish updates on the epidemiological situation of notifiable and priority diseases on the continent
• Work with regional partners such as the World Health Organization-AFRO to foster and align the implementation of the integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) strategy.
• Work with A-CDC colleagues and AU MS to support integration of all necessary IDS system components (e.g. events-based surveillance) and supporting functions (e.g. laboratory) into system development 
• Work with RCCs to provide regular feedback to MS on regional trends and ongoing events for situational awareness 
• Support development and implementation of e-surveillance systems Support prioritization and evaluation of public health interventions implemented in response to verified disease events.

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience

• Master's Degree OR Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health, Epidemiology or related fields with a minimum of two (2) or five (5) years of relevant work experience respectively 
• Experience in establishing and strengthening disease surveillance systems in MS including delivering trainings and developing surveillance indicators.
• Demonstrable experience in supporting the implementation of public health programs with emphasis on IDS and epidemic intelligence
• Demonstrable technical expertise and experience in the development of policies, processes, procedures and tools for disease surveillance.
• Preferred experience in outbreak response and/or training in field epidemiology
• Ability to engage effectively and diplomatically with external partners including national governments, donor institutions, inter-governmental agencies, other regional governance bodies, and academia.  
• Demonstrable experience and in-depth knowledge of operations of the Africa CDC, Regional Coordinating Centres and National Public Health Institutes is preferred.
• Clear understanding of the health systems on the continent and fair knowledge of operations of the Ministries of health in Member States.

Required Skills:

• Excellent computer skills, including word-processing capabilities, proficiency with e-mail and internet applications, power-point and experience in using statistical, database, and analytic tools like R, ArcGIS, MS Word and Excel etc is desirable.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills with the ability to convey key messages to a variety of audiences and serve as an advocate for the Programme’s activities
• Proficiency in one of the AU working languages is required (English, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Portuguese or Spanish).
• Fluency in English and knowledge of any additional language is an added advantage. 

Leadership Competencies:

• Change Management
• Managing Risk.

Core Competencies:

• Teamwork and Collaboration.
• Accountability awareness and Compliance.
• Learning Orientation.
• Communicating with Influence

Functional Competencies:

• Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Job Knowledge and information sharing..
• Drive for result..
• Continuous Improvement Focus

Tenure of Appointment

• The Appointment will be made on a fixed term contract for a period of one (1) year, of which the first three (3) months will be considered as a probationary period.
• Thereafter, the contract may be renewed for a similar period subject to funding availability, satisfactory performance and agreed deliverables.

Gender Mainstreaming:

• The AU Commission is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Remuneration

• The salary attached to the position is an annual lump-sum of US$ 85,212.07 (P2 Step 5) inclusive of all allowances for internationally recruited staff, and US$  66,751.81  inclusive of all allowances for locally recruited staff of the African Union Commission.

Application Closing Date
22nd July, 2023 at 11h59 p.m. EAT.