National Surveillance Officer - Vector Borne Disease & Malaria at World Health Organization (WHO)

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: National Surveillance Officer- Vector Borne Disease & Malaria

Ref No: 2308009
Location: Nigeria
Schedule: Full-time
Grade: NO-C
Contractual Arrangement: Fixed-term appointment
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): 1 Year

Purpose of the Post

• Accelerating the scale-up of malaria, and other vector control interventions 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 strategic plan, the Global Technical Strategy and other VBDs action Plans. Malaria surveillance is a core intervention and is as the second element in the High Burden, High Impact (HBHI) implementation framework.
• With Malaria being heterogeneous in Nigeria, and requiring targeted interventions, in order to drive impact, there is a need to move away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to malaria.
• The incumbent will provide technical support to the country in strengthening data availability, better analysis, and the strategic use of quality data for evidence generation to deploy the most effective malaria control tools and determine decisions/actions that will contribute to reducing malaria morbidity and mortality. The incumbent will support the use of data to optimize the way tools are delivered to those in need through all conduits of delivery, including improved primary health care through the public and private sectors.

Description 
Under the direct supervision of the UCN Cluster Lead, the incumbent will perform the following duties:

• Strengthen national malaria and other vector-borne disease surveillance systems, including other health information systems for the generation of strategic information for evidence-based targeting of malaria interventions for enhanced malaria burden reduction, through adoption, adaptation and application of relevant WHO norms and standards, guidelines, manuals and tools and appropriate technologies and e-platforms
• Ensure the availability of quality data, and use of analytics for planning and decision-making at national and sub-national levels
• Build capacity on the use of surveillance, monitoring and evaluation and other health data for malaria subnational tailoring of intervention using data triangulation for stratification
• Guide evidence-based targeting and micro-stratification at community or high-risk areas with appropriate antimalarial interventions.
• Monitor the impact of interventions, and performance of program at national and sub-national levels to guide programmatic strategies for enhanced impact.
• Contribute to documentation and publication of best practices on the use of available evidence for targeting interventions at national and subnational levels
• Undertake any other functions assigned

Recruitment Profile

• Competencies: Generic (Describe the core, management or leadership competencies required - See WHO competency model – list in order of priority, commencing with the most important ones)

 Teamwork:

• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Producing results
• Moving forward in a changing environment

Competencies: Management:

• Technical
• Producing results
• Fostering integration and teamwork
• Communicating in a credible and effective way
• Creating an empowering and motivating environment
• Moving forward in a changing environment

For all positions  that  possess  Managerial/Supervisory  responsibilities,  an  additional mandatory Management Competency is required

Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post):

• Broad knowledge of the principles and practices of communicable disease epidemiology with specific experience in malaria surveillance and operational research
• Experience with spatial statistical methods and epidemiological data analysis for infectious diseases
• Proven skills in the analysis of routine disease surveillance data
• Proven experience in the development and evaluation of systems, policies, strategies, guidelines and tools for disease control and/or elimination
• Proven skills and knowledge in the development and evaluation of disease surveillance systems in a public health setting
• Demonstrated skills in capacity building, especially the training of health workers
• Presentation and communication skills 
• Proven skills in modeling and use of analytics for programme decisions    

Education (Qualifications)

• Essential: University Degree in Epidemiology or Biostatistics, or other relevant health-related fields
• Desirable: Master’s Degree in Epidemiology or Biostatistics, or other relevant health-related fields

Experience:

• Essential: Five (5) years of experience in the development and evaluation of national disease surveillance systems.
• Desirable:  Experience in National Health Surveillance Systems. Expert knowledge in modelling and geospatial analysis

Application Closing Date
9th September, 2023.