Jobs at World Health Organization

Description Of Duties

In collaboration with other WHO technical clusters and partners, in an integrated manner within the context of Universal Health Coverage, primary health care, ensuring people-centered approaches across the life course, the incumbent will be expected for each of the MCAT countries under its jurisdiction to perform the following duties in a collaborative way with the ministries of health and their institutions, partners, including WHO Collaborating Centers; academic, teaching and research institutions; regional and sub regional economic entities; global health, multilateral and bilateral partners, and NGOs to ensure that appropriate and efficient support is provided to national systems:

• Facilitate and manage the WHO Country offices work in the development, implementation and oversight of relevant strategies, programmes of work, and annual workplans for diagnostic and laboratory services.
• Conduct the design, drive, and oversee the integration of diagnostics and laboratory services in health systems and across disease programmes and interventions.
• Provide strategic leadership in developing and implementing national policy, strategic plan, and guidelines for diagnostics and laboratory services.
• Provide guidance for resource mobilization and conduct advocacy and policy dialogue and establish/strengthen partnerships, for the harmonization and alignment of actors and resources in the formulation and implementation of national action plans for improving diagnostics and laboratory, as an integral part of strengthened and resilient national health systems.
• Support the strengthening and implementation of regulations, norms, and standards in diagnostics and laboratories, particularly for package of tests and services; human resources qualifications, registration; infrastructures; equipment; and diagnostics lists.
• Support the implementation of quality management systems, biosafety and biosecurity, radiation protection, and health technology management including maintenance.
• Support the building of diagnostics and laboratory services national networks for patients and samples referral, national quality assessment programmes, training of staff and research.
• Facilitate the sourcing and provision of expert technical assistance to country diagnostics and laboratory programmes, including promoting the use of technical resource networks and leveraging in-country institutional capacities to enhance sustainability.
• Facilitate and disseminate best practices and lessons learned on all aspects of diagnostics and laboratory.
• Identify research needs and priorities aimed at improving universal access to diagnostics and laboratory services at country level, including promotion and strengthening of research capabilities, and support the addition of new knowledge and technologies into country health systems.
• Provide technical inputs into regional planning; monitoring and evaluation; assessments, surveys and reports; in collaboration with ARD/DLS and concerned units.
• Contribute to resource mobilization, including but not limited to drafting proposals and proactively participating in resource mobilization campaigns, in collaboration with other technical units and programmes, partnerships team and country offices.
• Provide expertise and technical advice to the WRs in the areas of diagnostics and laboratory services.
• Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.

Required Qualifications

Education

Essential

• Degree in medicine or equivalent medical / health degree
• Specialization or post-graduate qualification in a Laboratory Sciences or Radiological and Imaging diagnostic sciences.

Desirable: Training in Management of health programmes.

Essential

Experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years’ experience in the field of managing laboratories or radiological services; managerial and leadership skills and demonstrable ability to coordinate cross cutting activities and provide advice and leadership; demonstrated experience in working and collaborating at national and international level; communication and technical writing skills.
• Experience in policy, strategy and planning formulation, guidelines development and facilitating consultations, and technical support to countries.

Desirable

• Experience in capacity building, developing, and promoting collaborative partnerships.
• Relevant work experience in International Organizations, UN agencies, non-governmental or humanitarian organizations.
• Field experience in developing countries.

Functional Skills And Knowledge

• Demonstrated ability to develop, innovate, coordinate and monitor the adoption and implementation of norms, standards and plans related to diagnostics and laboratory services.
• Proven track record in the development and implementation of effective reporting mechanisms and systems for monitoring, evaluation and assessment of progress at the regional and country levels.

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Description Of Duties

In collaboration with other WHO technical clusters and partners, in an integrated manner within the context of Universal Health Coverage, primary health care, ensuring people-centered approaches across the life course, the incumbent will be expected for each of the MCAT countries under its jurisdiction to perform the following duties in a collaborative manner in collaboration with the ministries of health and their institutions, partners, including WHO Collaborating Centers; academic, teaching and research institutions; regional and sub regional economic entities; global health, multilateral and bilateral partners, and NGOs to ensure that appropriate and efficient support is provided to national systems:

• Support Member States to implement Primary Health Care approach for Universal Health Coverage and other health related Sustainable Development Goals.
• Provide technical support to assess the District Health System (DHS) functionality and to develop, implement and review roadmaps/plans to revitalize DHS including community-based services.
• Provide technical assistance to the development, implementation, and evaluation of plans/projects/roadmaps for improving hospital and clinical services at all levels of the health systems including secondary and tertiary referral health services at country level.
• Provide technical support for the development of evidence-based national policies, strategies and plans on healthcare services quality, safety, and resilience at country level.
• Collaborate with Member States in the establishment and further development of best practices in service delivery and quality systems design and foster the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and strategies.
• Promote and enable the dissemination of evidence-based research results, tools and best practices on service delivery and quality systems. Support Monitoring and Evaluation and reporting on sub-regional countries' trends and progress.
• Contribute to the implementation of sub-regional and regional strategic policies on delivery of quality health services, and support resource mobilization and advocacy in support of country health sector needs.
• To perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.

Required Qualifications

Education

Essential

• Post-graduate degree in public health or Post-graduate Degree or recognized specialist qualification in clinical sciences.
• Training in quality control systems and /or in infection prevention and control practices.

Desirable: Post-graduate training in public health; Post Graduate training in quality management in health.

Essential

Experience

• At least seven years' experience in providing support to countries to develop health systems based on Primary Health Care at sub-national, national, and international level especially in developing countries.

Desirable

• Experience with working in health systems; in WHO or other UN Agencies, preferably in the African Region; and in facilitating consultations.
• Experience in the development and implementation of service quality standards at the national and international levels, including experience in international cooperation.

Functional Skills And Knowledge

• Proven expertise in service delivery systems and in quality-of-care programmes as part of national health systems policies and strategies.
• Excellent track record in data collection, analysis, Monitoring and evaluation in health services delivery. Excellent communication and presentation skills with demonstrated ability to write technical reports, documents, and guidelines in a clear and concise manner.
• Ability to provide technical advice and guidance to multiple stakeholders and partners considering country contexts.
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to promote consensus, lead resource mobilization activities, communicate progress and results, and/or take remedial action in a proactive manner, while ensuring effective work practices and ethics.
• Diplomacy, tact, and courtesy.

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Summary Of Assigned Duties

• Working closely with the IMT at all levels of the organization, the incumbent will:
• In the areas of coordination of operations and information sharing:
• Provide dedicated support to the IM for implementing emergency response coordination, including strategic response planning, implementation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of response effectiveness.
• Develop, implement, and monitor technical, operational and HR work plans in close collaboration with IMS technical leads and relevant teams across pillars.
• Plan, coordinate and monitor regular IMT and pillar specific meetings, and high-level strategic meetings for IMS leadership. This involves outlining key discussions to inform the IM and pillar leads and tracking agreed action points and recommendations with relevant teams.
• Ensure reports (e.g., SitReps) are disseminated from subnational level to national and strategic levels for enhancing response decision making by following up regularly as required with pillar leads.
• Prepare monitoring and progress reports, briefing notes, donor proposals, communications and advocacy documents, challenges, and critical issues for strategic and/or national level decision-making.
• Develop and regularly update the response database, documentation and contact details of key partners and stakeholders (e.g., using WHO Event Management Suite 2 - EMS2).
• Collaborate with the communication team across the 3 level of the organization to ensure information and data accuracy.
• Summarize lessons learned and best practices, through – inter alia - participation in operational reviews during and after the response.
• In the areas of partner engagement and resource mobilization:
• Support the IM in developing strategies to strengthen partners’ engagement. This includes coordinating partners resource mapping and areas of support and following up with operational partners and donors to avail committed resources.
• Facilitate effective resource mobilization and allocation in collaboration with the resource mobilization team and support the IM in adapting, planning, and prioritization of human and material resources and expenditure.
• In the areas of Country Office and subnational EOCs implementation:
• As part of the Country Office EOC common operating platform, facilitate improved information sharing across pillars and the 3 levels of the organization for reporting, monitoring and evaluation of the response. This involves providing required EOC briefings and guidance to WHO staff and responders (e.g., RRTs) upon initial deployment as an integrated part of the on-boarding process.
• Support the Emergency Field Coordinator in establishing and/or operating the subnational level EOC in support to response operations, and demobilizing it during the recovery phase. This includes the dissemination of subnational EOC information products, event management information, and other technical updates and assessments to inform decision-makers.
• Support capacity need assessment and capacity building activities through the development and implementation of training plan for enhancing IMS and EOC implementation.
• Deploy to the field for assignments upon request of the IM.
• Perform other incident-related duties at national or subnational level, as assigned by the IM.

Competencies

• Communication
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Teamwork
• Ensuring the effective use of resources
• Producing results Moving forward in a changing environment.

Functional Knowledge And Skills

• Proven technical knowledge and experience in operational support to health emergencies response and events management (at least basic level).
• Sound analytical skills and ability to synthesize information and prepare reports, and other persuasive documents.
• Demonstrated professional experience in strategic and/or operational planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience in project management and coordination support. Ability to set priorities, work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to perform and adapt to complex, multidisciplinary, multicultural, and changing political, social, and economic contexts.
• Knowledge of cross-sectoral coordination.
• Credible and effective communication and interpersonal skills.

Education Qualifications

• Essential: A first level university degree in health emergency or disaster risk management, public health, medicine, health policy/planning, health information management, project management, business administration, statistics, economics, social sciences, social development, international development, or international relations from an accredited institution.
• Desirable: Advanced university degree or professional training in public health emergency management or other emergency management fields.

Experience

• Essential: A minimum of five years’ relevant professional experience in health emergency management at the national and/or international levels, including proven experience in health emergency operations, outbreaks management, disaster or humanitarian crises management, planning, finance, grant management, resource mobilization.
• Desirable: Prior working experience with EOCs and/or IMTs at national or subnational level, with WHO/UN agencies, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and/or other related sectors.