JOB DESCRIPTION

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to build the capacities of Member States to safely manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international response to mitigate, contain, provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations. The Programme supports countries and coordinates international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, timely respond to, and recover from outbreaks and other public health emergencies. The objectives of the Country Readiness Strengthening Department is to achieve effective operational readiness and response for the most imminent and serious health emergencies. The department supports Member States to develop, establish and finance comprehensive readiness plans for health security that are facilitated by strategic partnerships across all relevant sectors. Operational readiness is critical for countries, communities and organizations to have the capability to be able to respond immediately and appropriately to health emergencies from any hazard when required. Strengthening operational readiness is based on a continuous process of assessing current risk based on the identification of hazards with the highest likelihood and severity against the level of existing capacities and vulnerabilities. This is a continuous process followed by the assessment of readiness capabilities and the acceleration of targeted actions at trigger for an imminent threat to ensure an efficient emergency response. Readiness is a status of specific capabilities to quickly and appropriately respond when required to mitigate the impact of specific risk(s) and is built upon preparedness. The Health Care Readiness (HCR) Unit works on end to end processes covering all emergency management cycles, to enhance preparedness, operational readiness and response measures. This includes the development of technical infection prevention control and clinical care standards, norms, standards tools and guidelines; also covers the processes for health emergency workforce, surge capacities and quality assurance systems and procedures. The unit’s work is at the core of the safe and scalable care subsystem to build core capacities of Member States to ensure they have systems in place ensuring the right working conditions and standards for health workforce as well as capacity to deploy surge workforce when needs arise. The unit works with several networks at international, regional and country level including academia to bring partners together for norm setting, advancing research and innovation, capacity strengthening and rapid deployment of health care experts for surge capacity. Agility and operational readiness are critical to provide both immediate, short-term safe and quality care to reduce the loss of life and prevent long-term disability in different public health emergency scenarios.

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DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The incumbent will perform the following duties:
1. Lead the development of infection prevention and control (IPC) normative guidelines and standards for readiness and response of infectious disease outbreaks (community and health care associated infections) and other public health emergencies (PHE), focusing on the development of the guideline on IPC for acute respiratory infections in the context of emergencies and pandemics.
2. Lead the development of guideline derivative products (e.g. SOPs, assessment tools, risk communication products) as well as the dissemination and implementation strategies and monitoring and evaluation frameworks of corresponding technical products
3. Support the coordination and activities related to the IPC Public Health Emergencies (PHE) Working Group (WG). This includes coordinating meetings and ensuring implementation of IPC PHE WG workplan.
4. Participate and provide IPC technical and operational support to PHE Incident Management System Teams (IMST) as required.
5. Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

Essential: 
Advanced level University degree (Master’s level or above) in nursing, medicine, microbiology, epidemiology, or public health from an accredited/recognized institute, with a post- graduate certificate or diploma in Infection Prevention and Control.

EXPERIENCE

Essential: 
1) At least seven years of experience in the field of Infectious Prevention and Control, combined with clinical experience, at the national and international levels, in managing programmes to improve quality and safety of health services.
2) Experience with guideline development at national or international level.
3) Experience with management of outbreaks and public health emergencies in developing/resource limited settings.

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Desirable: 
1. Experience with implementation research or evaluation of health interventions and programmes.
2. Experience or sound knowledge of WHO mandate and goals related to outbreaks, emergency risk and crises management or experience in UN organizations/agencies, international institutions or NGOs.

SKILLS

1. Knowledge and experience in the implementation of Infection Prevention and Control programmes.
2. Knowledge and experience in the development and writing of guidelines and the GRADE process.
3. Excellent oral and written skills in English.
4. Strong interpersonal, networking and diplomacy skills, and ability to work with and/or coordinate a diverse groups of stakeholders.
5. Knowledge of WHO country, regional and global functions.
6. Knowledge of outbreak response operations and their implementation in public health emergencies including experience with managing outbreaks in health care facilities.
7. Demonstrated ability to identify and manage multiple projects concurrently, prioritizing the allocation of work and developing and adjusting operational procedures.

WHO COMPETENCIES

1. Teamwork
2. Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
3. Communication
4. Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond
5. Ensuring the effective use of resources

USE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Essential: 
Expert knowledge of English.

Desirable: 
1. Intermediate knowledge of French.
2. Intermediate knowledge of Spanish.

REMUNERATION

WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars. The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 77,326 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 5748 per month for the duty station indicated above. Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test and/or an asynchronous video assessment may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/ Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.
• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits and employs staff regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.
• The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its staff. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int
• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• WHO also offers wide range of benefits to staff, including parental leave and attractive flexible work arrangements to help promote a healthy work-life balance and to allow all staff members to express and develop their talents fully.
• The statutory retirement age for staff appointments is 65 years. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.
• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
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