Virology Lab and Containment Officer at World Health Organization (WHO)

Under the general supervision of the PEP Cluster Lead, and the direct supervision of the Surveillance Officer, the incumbent performs the following functions:

• Prepare and support the implementation and monitoring of a comprehensive surveillance workplan.
• Support the National and State authorities to achieve and sustain certification standard Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance.
• Facilitate the conduct of other AFP complimentary surveillance activities, such as the Environmental Surveillance
• In collaboration with other partners, facilitate outbreak risk assessments and timely outbreak investigations within the scope of the health emergencies.
• Strengthen the capacities of the National and state surveillance teams for the effective and sustained surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases and other epidemic prone diseases through training.
• Undertake regular field supervision visits to assess and evaluate the implementation of surveillance activities, identify gaps and recommend corrective actions based on key performance indicators.
• Support the functioning of the national polio committees through facilitation of meetings, provision of data and adequate documentation.
• Support the national polio laboratories through field visits, facilitation of accreditation exercises, logistics and poliovirus containment.
• Support the surveillance of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) and Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI) through training, provision of logistics and supporting the National Expert Committee on AEFI
• Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Essential: First level university degree in medicine and/or public health planning and administration, complemented by training in public health/epidemiology/health science.
• Desirable: Master's degree in public health or equivalent. Training n epidemiology and/or outbreak investigation will be asset.

Experience

• Essential: At least 7years of experience required in public health surveillance with emphasis on emergency response relief and/or the management of epidemic-prone diseases.
• Desirable: Experience in the areas of outbreak investigation and response for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, particularly in developing countries.

Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge, competency and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control,
• Epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response with particular attention to application of an all-hazard approach in the context of the International Health Regulations (2005) and the use of event based and indicator-based surveillance, as well as descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response;
• Managerial skills for the development, implementation, monitoring and analysis of public health programmes for infectious diseases within a highly demanding work environment.
• Sound knowledge and skills in database management and statistical analysis, secondary data review, survey designing and implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems design or use, and public health information management.
• Strong professional oral and writing skills including the development of reports, oral presentations and technical guidance and advocacy documents.