Medical Specialist II – Epidemiologist at Tharaka Nithi County Assembly

Requirements for appointment:

•  Be a Kenyan citizen;
•  Be a holder of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B., & ChB.) Degree from a University recognized in Kenya;
•  A Masters degree in the field of Field Epidemiology from a university recognized in Kenya;
•  Registered as a Medical/Specialist Practitioner by Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council;
•  Have a Valid Practicing License;
•  Be of acceptable moral and professional standing;
•  Willing to undertake duties Physically in any part of Tharaka Nithi County as they will be assigned from time to time;

Duties and responsibilities:

The Epidemiologist shall be responsible to the employer and the supervisor for the following:

•  Provide authoritative advice to National Public Health Authorities and lead the epidemiological work of the County Office that underpins policy formulation;
•  Support relevant teams on building core capacities for surveillance, early detection, verification and rapid response to epidemics and other public health events of International concern, as required in the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005;
•  Ensure that the County has access to all relevant existing county- specific health-related data. This includes National and Sub- National datasets, such as demographics of populations affected by specific diseases (relevant age, gender, etc.) and time trends.
• Analyze such data sets to provide additional insights on the country’s health context and epidemiological situation;
•  Serve as focal person for all internal and external requests related to country-specific data. As needed, ensure government agreement for the use and dissemination of such data;
•  Assist the government and relevant institutions on the enhancement of national capacities in epidemic and disease- trends’ forecasting and detection systems, including epidemiology and laboratory surveillance for monitoring and evaluating the core surveillance and real-time analysis of outbreak intelligence data;
•  Lead and coordinate the development of training courses for public health professionals on epidemiological surveillance, outbreak investigation, and/or the improvement of related data management;
•  Collaborate with Health Emergency teams to promote County’s position and successfully influence national health authorities to develop infection prevention and control programmes in health care facilities, including (where and when required) focusing on preparedness and response to epidemics and pandemics;
•  Participate, as needed, in risk assessments for unusual health events;
•  Collaborate with relevant authorities on the development and maintenance of a national system for comprehensive data collection and trend analysis of public health events;
•  Play a lead role in the analysis, interpretation, and knowledge building of surveillance data (including virological data) through County and peer-reviewed publications and media;
•  Encourage collaboration and develop innovative advocacy initiatives and project proposals for joint action and resource mobilization to augment national, operational responses to public health events;
•  Any other duty that may be assigned by the supervisor.