Epidemiologist at African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET)

Major Duties and Responsibilities
Measles, rubella, CRS and yellow fever surveillance system strengthening:

• The incumbent will provide technical expertise and support to NCDC and work with other participating partners in the strengthening of routine disease surveillance, information systems and outbreak investigations.
• This will include collaboration on surveillance strengthening and capacity building initiatives proposed in the country operational plans.
• He/she will conduct surveillance system evaluation to include reviewing and contributing to the development of measles, yellow fever, rubella and CRS surveillance operational guidance and case definitions; assessing quality of case investigations, including field implementation of case definitions and laboratory specimen collection, preparation and transport; identifying surveillance knowledge gaps at all levels; and assessing surveillance performance quality indicators.
• The incumbent will assist NCDC in analyzing VPD epidemiologic and laboratory data (to include measles, yellow fever, rubella and CRS) and optimizing standard analyses to be useful for immunization program monitoring and strategy development.
• He/she will conduct retrospective analyses of existing data to determine root causes of surveillance gaps, and will assess interpretation, use, and integration of surveillance information into the national response. He/she will assist in improving routine VPD surveillance reports and automation of their generation and distribution to partners at the LGA, State, National and International levels.
• The incumbent will collaborate on the refinement of standards and policies for the national reporting of VPD surveillance activities, including designing and implementing methods for improving data quality, completeness, accuracy and timeliness.
• The incumbent will document data collection protocols, database architecture, data workflow, query and analysis techniques for specific data sets or data uses, identifies data quality issues, and makes recommendations for improvement. Specifically, for rubella, the incumbent will support the strengthening of rubella data analyses collected in the measles surveillance system and will assist in the initiation and monitoring of the CRS sentinel surveillance system.
• He/she will support the capacity building of surveillance staff at NCDC and provide support to facilitate transition from current paper based VPD surveillance reporting system to reporting via SORMAS electronic data collection platform.
• Additionally, he/she will work with EPI managers and partners to select optimal indicators for non-polio campaign preparation and implementation and then make recommendations for data aggregation in real time.

Dissemination of Surveillance Information:

• The incumbent prepares comprehensive reports of national VPD surveillance system analyses, which will include assessing the adequacy and quality of data; providing explanation of the methodologies and analyses used; collating and reporting summary of the results; and providing suggestions for designing more effective surveillance programs.
• The incumbent will support the weekly surveillance report to ensure the quality and correctness of the report. The incumbent will work closely with partners across other immunization technical program areas to make sure that NCDC surveillance systems provide targeted information that are useful in supporting program planning, policy development, advocacy, and impact evaluation.
• The incumbent will assist in assuring timely distribution of useful measles, yellow fever, rubella and CRS information to partners and prepare reports for presentation to professional groups and for publication in professional journals.
• Performs other Duties as assigned.

Reporting Sstructure:

• He/she will work under the supervision of the surveillance lead at NCDC and will work closely with the technical working groups on surveillance.
• He/she will be supervised by AFENET with direct guidance and oversight provided by US CDC and will be expected to provide a monthly report to both AFENET and CDC.

Qualification
Certifications, license, or other expertise required:

• Education: Pre-requisite:
  • Master's Degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Veterinary Epidemiology or related field.
  • First Degree in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine or related field
• Desired: Post-graduate training through a field epidemiology training program or the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is desired.
• At least 5 years of field experience in vaccine preventable disease and Nigeria field experience.

Knowledge Requirements:

• Language proficiency in English.
• A good understanding of vaccine preventable disease surveillance system and immunization
• Strong technical knowledge in public health, epidemiology, surveillance, disease outbreak investigation, data management including analysis and interpretation of measles surveillance data.
• Skills in Microsoft Office, Epi Info, SPSS and Stata
• Ability to communicate clearly in English language orally and in writing.
• Ability to engage in successful interaction; extensive contact with members of government agencies and partners at national, state and local government levels.