Consultant - HIV Strategic Information, Modeling, and Digital Health Data 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: Consultant - HIV Strategic Information, Modeling, and Digital Health Data 

Job ID: 2402848
Location: Nigeria
Contractual Arrangement: External consultant
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): 11 months
Organization: HQ/SIA Strategic Information Analysis & Use
Schedule: Full-time 
Expected duration of contract: 11 months. 

Purpose of Consultancy

• To contribute to the development of the WHO SMART Guidelines initiatives in HIV, digital products, modeling and for the implementation of strategic information guidelines in countries.

Background

• In 2022 WHO released Consolidated guidelines on person-centred HIV strategic information: strengthening routine data for impact to strengthen the collection and use of person-centred data in routine systems at country level.
• There is now an opportunity to more effectively define the technical and functional relationships between patient-level and aggregate data and related data use cases. The guidelines define what data should be recorded and reported (recommended data elements and indicators) and how this information could be used to build stronger, more efficient, and more effective health information systems in support of the HIV response.  
• In addition to the guidelines, digital tools are being developed to support guideline implementation as digital systems and products that are key for effective monitoring.
• To ensure countries can effectively benefit from digital health investments, WHO’s SMART Guidelines initiative are designed to facilitate the accurate reflection of WHO’s clinical, public health and data use guidelines within the digital systems that countries are adopting.
• Operational outputs, such as spreadsheets of the data dictionary with core data elements, are included as practical resources that implementers can use as starting points when developing digital systems. Other digital tools, such as the DHIS2 HIV case surveillance tracker and HIV prevention tracker, are also being supported. 
• As countries approach or reach the global 95-95-95 targets, an increased focus on accelerating reductions in HIV incidence are needed. A mathematical modeling project aims to understand the epidemiologic impact, effectiveness, and costing of various combinations of approaches to HIV testing, prevention, and treatment to rapidly achieve and sustain the greatest and most durable reduction in new HIV infections.
• This information will be used to guide the prioritization of interventions across different programmatic areas, approaches to HIV service delivery, population groups, and geographical units in high-burden settings and populations.

Deliverables

• Task 1: Aggregate and consolidate modelling analyses to understand the relative impact, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of different combinations of HIV testing, prevention and treatment interventions for different epidemic contexts:  
  • Deliverable 1.1: Summary report on modeling analyses from different countries. 
    Expected by: October 2024
• Task 2: Technical review for the generation of machine-readable guidelines for HIV as part of the WHO SMART Guidelines for translations of the indicators in the WHO Consolidated guidelines on person-centered HIV strategic information for digital systems:
  • Deliverable 2.1: Reviewed HIV SMART guidelines products. 
    Expected by: May 2024
• Task 3: Technical input to HIV digital adaptation kit implementation research, data analyses and report writing:
  • Deliverable 3.1: Review provided on HIV analyses and outcomes.  
    Expected by: August 2024
• Task 4: Technical input and data analyses related to the implementation of Consolidated guidelines on person-centered HIV strategic information:
  • Deliverable 4.1: Summary report on implementation of person-centered HIV data. 
    Expected by: March 2025
• Task 5: Conduct analyses and provide technical input to WHO Member States on HIV, hepatitis and STI data:  
  • Deliverable 5.1: Preliminary results of analyses requested. 
    Expected by: December 2024

Qualifications, Experience, Skills and Languages
Educational Qualifications:
Essential:

• Advanced Degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Public Health, or another quantitative field.

Desirable:

• PhD in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, or another quantitative field. 

Experience:
Essential:

• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in data analysis, epidemiology, or mathematical modeling.

Desirable:

• Experience in low- or middle-income settings with HIV programs, epidemiologic studies or with the development and implementation of digital tools in health information systems.

Skills: 

• Knowledge in the use of statistical software to be able to conduct analyses of multi-country data (e.g. Stata, R, Python).

Languages required:
Essential:  

• Expert knowledge of English.

Travel 

• The consultant is expected to travel. 

Remuneration
Band level B - USD 7,000 - 9,980 per month.

Application Closing Date
29th April, 2024 (10:59:00 PM).

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online