Senior Medical Officer at United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)

Within delegated authority, the Senior Medical Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

Responsibilities

1. Clinic Management:
   1. Oversees the delivery of high-quality occupational health services in the UN workplace, including employment clearances, travel medicine services and travel clearances
   2. Leads the team ensure efficient and state-of the-art services provision at the UN clinic and partners for that with the national health providers and other entities
   3. Oversees the delivery if effective workplace or general health promotion, occupational health and safety for the UN in Kenya including workplace and home ergonomics programs, immunization and workplace safety and health risk assessments.
   4. Oversees and provides specialist guidance on workplace (reasonable) accommodation requests with a medical component in line with UN policies
   5. Develops and implements an emergency medical preparedness system for the duty station in close liaison with the Security and Safety Services Service and the Business Continuity Services of UNON. Develops risk-based emergency medical preparedness plans and oversees the implementation of these plans.
   6. Serves as the focal point for system-wide emergency preparedness and response issues, including medivac policy and support, pre-hospital trauma care standards, training and oversight and mass casualty incidents preparedness, including training and simulation exercises.
   7. Implements the medical response to pandemics and disease outbreak. Provides technical guidance to the Crisis Management Team and periodic updates, as well as respond to management and staff on issues related to these specific needs and campaigns.
   8. Provides oversight on the JMS satellite clinics in Dadaab and Kakuma
   9. Advises on other aspects of health including public health relevant to the duty station, through liaison with host state/host nation health authorities.
   10. Ensures quality in services including the implementation of quality control mechanisms and procedures, the use of published UN clinical guidelines, and adherence to patient safety and adverse event reporting requirements.
2. Medical Administration:
   1. Leads the engagement and coordinates with other UN entities, Funds and Programmes in Kenya the overall framework of medical and psychosocial support, and design and implements systems to report and follow up with client agencies.
   2. Oversees the provision of recommendations or determinations related to medical entitlements
   3. Oversees the completion of sick leave, including where required liaison with individual staff members and their healthcare providers to ensure effective sick leave management
   4. Oversees the development and implementation of return-to-work programs
   5. Monitors sick leave usage in conjunction with human resources staff and prepares and finalizes disability summaries and reports for the Medical Director and UNJSPF
   6. Oversees medical evacuation and repatriation services
   7. Maintains and continuously updates a centralized database with information about duty station-related emergency preparedness levels, gap analysis and mitigation measures; advises the Chief HRMS on critical gaps and proposes risk controls in consultation with the respective UN entities in the UNON compound.
   8. Undertakes mediation and informal dispute resolution related to medical entitlements, and where required represents the medical service in formal dispute resolution bodies such as medical boards or the UN Dispute Tribunal.
3. Supervisory:
   1. Manages the work and results of all staff working in the medical service, including where appropriate occupational safety staff or remote staff supervised by the medical service
   2. Ensures medical confidentiality and release of medical records/information is in accordance with UN policies and requirements.
   3. Manages access to the EarthMed medical record system
   4. Undertakes the annual planning and preparation of budgets and prepares reports on budget performance and results
   5. Ensures the development, generation and reporting of relevant key performance indicators documenting health support performance including responses to audit requests on health performance.
   6. Ensures timely recruiting and training of all new staff, and effective performance management.
   7. Ensures effective continuous professional development of staff and their career management.
4. Advisory, liaison and representation:
   1. Undertakes regular coordination with the Office of the Director, DHMOSH UNHQ, contributes to the development of UN healthcare policy, and ensures alignment of policy and practice in UN health care services.
   2. Represents the medical service at events and meetings with other UN entities and in national and international fora.
   3. Oversees workplace health and medical service communication products, and liaison/outreach with external actors.
   4. Briefs and advises senior management on all healthcare matters relevant to the workplace, including health policies, business continuity, enterprise risk management, and representation at crisis response and related bodies.
   5. Represents the medical service on health and medical entitlements matters before the UN judicial system and UN investigative bodies.
   6. Ensures effective occupational health representation at the local occupational health and safety committee.
5. Performs other related duties as required.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of clinical, occupational safety and health and tropical/travel medicine. Ability to manage a diverse and multicultural team and to operate efficiently under stressful circumstances. Good drafting ability in English and French. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• ACCOUNTABLITY: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates; provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
• COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors’ language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed
• LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.
• JUDGEMENT/DECISION-MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

• Doctorate (MD) or equivalent in medicine, including residency/internship in one of the medical specialties, preferably occupational medicine is required. Further certification in internal medicine or general practice is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible clinical experience in one of the areas of medicine is required.
• At least five years in the Occupational Health field is required.
• Three years of experience in the medical field in Africa and/or the Global South is required.
• Three years in an International Organization with field deployments is desirable.
• Three years of managerial experience in the medical field including budgeting, supervisory responsibilities and resource management are desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.

NOTE "Fluency equals a rating of "fluent" in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and " Knowledge of equals a rating of' confident" in two of the four areas.

Assessment
Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview

Special Notice
Appointment against this position is for an initial period of one year and may be subject to extension.

Staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and to assignment by him or her. In this context, all staff are expected to move periodically to new functions in their careers in accordance with established rules and procedures.

Staff members of the United Nations Secretariat must fulfill the lateral move requirements to be eligible to apply for this vacancy. Staff members are requested to indicate all qualifying lateral moves in their personal History Profile (PHP) and cover letter.

The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

Internal Applicants – when completing the PHP, ensure ALL fields, ALL professional experience and contact information are completed and up to date. This information is the basis for the hiring manager to assess your eligibility and suitability for the position and to contact you.

Individual Contractors and Consultants who have worked within the UN Secretariat in the last six months, irrespective of the administering entity, are ineligible to apply for or be appointed to any professional and higher temporary or fixed-term positions, within six months of the end of their current or most recent service. For such positions, at least six months need to have elapsed between the end of a consultancy or individual contract and the time of application and consideration for an appointment as a staff member under the Staff Rules and Regulations of the United Nations.

At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply on-line as soon as possible after the job opening has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the job opening. On-line applications will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not
have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. If the problem persists, please seek technical assistance through the Inspira "Need Help?" link.

For this position, applicants from the following Member States, which are unrepresented or underrepresented in the UN Secretariat as of 31 March 2022, are strongly encouraged to apply: Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Belize, Brunei Darussalam, Cabo Verde, China, Comoros, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Norway, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vanuatu.