Job: MEDICAL OFFICER (EWARN SURVEILLANCE) POSITION NO. 346450 (EMRO/13/TA97)

24 September 2013

The mission of WHO is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.

Vacancy Notice No: EMRO/13/TA97

Title: Medical Officer (EWARN Surveillance) position no. 346450

Grade: P4

Contract type: Temporary appointment

Duration of contract: for six months

Date: 24 September 2013

Application Deadline: 15 October 2013

Duty Station: Cairo, Egypt

Organization unit: EMRO Eastern Mediterranian Regional Office (EM/RGO), EM/DCD Division of Communicable Disease Control (EM/DCD)

Pandemic and Epidemic Disease (PED)

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME :

The overall objective of the programme is to prevent and control pandemic and epidemic prone diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region through working with the EMR Member States on (i) building appropriate public health preparedness and response measures for control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; (ii) strengthening early warning surveillance and field epidemiological capacity for outbreak investigation, detection and response to epidemics and pandemics (iii) improving epidemic forecasting and detection through real-time analysis of outbreak intelligence data on infectious diseases; (iv) ensuring the availability of and access to strategic guidance for detection, verification, risk assessment, communication and public health response to public health emergencies that might constitute national, regional and international public health concern in the EMR countries.

Purpose of the Post:

To support the establishment of Early Warning (EWARN) Surveillance System in the countries affected by the crisis in Syria in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Organizational Context :

The incumbent will be designated as a Medical Officer (EWARN Surveillance) under the Pandemic and Epidemic Disease (PED) of Department of Communicable Diease Prevention and Control at the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Description of duties:

Summary of Assigned Duties:

Under the guidance of the Regional Adviser, PED/EMRO and under supervision of the Director, Communicable Disease Prevention and Control and in collaboration with the PED and EHA team, the incumbent will perform the following functions targeted in the countries affected by the Syria crisis:

Provide technical support for establishing early warning surveillance system for detection and response to epidemic and pandemic diseases.

Conduct real-time analysis of EWARN surveillance data for health intelligence, epidemic forecasting and detection.

Developing necessary operational guidelines, frameworks, protocols, and SoPs for establishment and management of EWARN surveillance system.

Collaborate with the national health authorities affected by the crisis in Syria to develop epidemic preparedness and response plan for communicable diseases.

Conduct field investigation for outbreak verification, risk assessment and provide technical support for rapid public health response to outbreaks and other public health events of potential concerns.

Organize training course for front-line health care workers on field investigation, EWARN surveillance and response to outbreaks.

Develop project proposals for resource mobilization on establishing EWARN surveillance system.

Participate in the organization wide event management system of WHO's alert and response operations to epidemics and pandemics.

Maintain an event management system database of reported outbreaks and public health events and document all steps taken in the verification and response process.

Coordinate preparing and disseminating disease outbreak news and other EWARN surveillance updates to key decision makers in the organizational hierarchy.

Build and maintain effective partnerships with relevant bodies, agencies and sectors in order to facilitate implementation of EWARN surveillance system for epidemic and pandemic diseases

 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

 

Education:

 

Essential: University degree in medicine with Master's degree in health science/public health.

 

Desirable: Experience in establishing EWARN surveillance system in crisis affected countries.

 

Skills:

 

Competencies:

 

1. Communicating in a credible and effective way

 

2. Producing results

 

3. Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

 

Functional Skills and Knowledge :

Demonstrated knowledge, competency and professional skills on public health aspects of infectious disease control, and the use of descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response.

Ability to write reports on outbreaks and interpret epidemiological surveillance data.

Good presentation and writing skills.

Proven ability to work in a busy, demanding and

 

multi-cultural environment.

 

Other Skills (e.g. IT): Proficiency in MS Office.

Experience:

 

Essential: At least 7 years of experience in public health at the national and international levels particularly in the areas of communicable disease control and response.

 

Desirable: Experience in the areas of outbreak investigation and response for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, particularly in developing countries.

 

Languages:

 

Excellent knowledge in English. A good knowledge of Arabic or French would be an asset.

 

Additional Information:

 

Applicants are kindly requested to pay attention to the screening questions as they will be used to screen out unqualified candidates.

 

Only qualified applicants with the relevant experience will be considered.

 

Other similar positions at the same level may be filled from this vacancy notice.

 

Written test may be used as an elimentary tool.

 

Candidates will be interviewed using a competency-based approach.

 

This vacancy is published in English only

 

Annual salary:

 

(Net of tax)

 

US$ 67483.00 at single rate

 

US$ 72467.00 with primary dependants

 

Post Adjustment:

 

38.6% % of the above figure(s). This percentage is to be considered as indicative since variations may occur each month either upwards or downwards due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation.

 

Online applications are strongly encouraged to enable WHO to store your profile in a permanent database. Please visit WHO's e-Recruitment website at: www.who.int/employment . The system provides instructions for online application procedures.

 

All applicants are encouraged to apply online as soon as possible after the vacancy has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the vacancy announcement.

 

WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

 

Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual. Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

 

WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

More Info and Application