Epidemiologist

Deliverables

• A UN-led public health disease and outbreak surveillance system is established in select UN peacekeeping operations.
• UN medical personnel in PKO are trained on notifiable disease reporting and the new surveillance system.
• Data on notifiable diseases are collected and analyzed and key findings are presented and notifiable disease trends are reported at the end of the consultancy
• Existing datasets and corresponding documents are maintained.
• Evidence-based recommendations for the scale-up of the public health surveillance system for notifiable diseases to all UN duty stations and missions are developed.
• Epidemiological input into data analysis and existing data collection are provided.

The Department of Healthcare Management and Occupational Health and Safety (DHMOSH) at UN Headquarters is seeking a short-term consultant epidemiologist with expertise in developing and implementing disease surveillance systems for a global organisation.

Based on the experience from the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of a standardized UN system for disease and outbreak surveillance were identified as critical gaps for UN personnel including peacekeepers. This consultancy was therefore created to support the DHMOSH Public Health section to design and implement a pilot disease and outbreak surveillance system for select UN Peacekeeping Operations. Such a system is expected to track in real-time diseases and health risks within the UN missions to create appropriate public health responses and better protect peacekeepers in implementing their mandates.

This requirement is further in line with the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) and A4P . They are also in line with and directly contribute to the Triangular Partnership Programme and is one part of the larger project to enhance medical capacity within UN peacekeeping operations.

The duties and responsibilities of the consultant will include but not limited to:

• Design and implement a novel disease and outbreak surveillance systems for selected UN peacekeeping operations, including developing reporting protocols and procedures.
• Lead and coordinate the development of disease and outbreak surveillance IT database systems for electronic capturing all health information needed.
• Coordinate with field medical section and mission’s senior management and other stakeholders to understand current systems being used and obtain useful feedback to inform design of new system.
• Develop any disease surveillance tools needed for collection, reporting and analysis of public health surveillance data
• Support with the drafting and delivery of specialized disease surveillance training to field health care professionals on the basics of epidemiology, data analysis and data tools
• Support with the identifying, analyzing and interpreting trends or patterns in public health surveillance data sets.
• Serve as focal points between DHMOSH and UN missions and provides technical support on all matters related to implementing a notifiable diseases surveillance system.
• Perform continuous monitoring and reporting of epidemiological trends for notifiable diseases captured in the surveillance system.
• Support in planning the future expansion of the surveillance system to other UN programs and duty stations.
• Conduct any other epidemiological, surveillance and data analytical needs as needed by DHMOSH and stakeholders.
• Any other duties as needed.

Academic Qualifications: Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in Epidemiology, Public Health, Data Science, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field

Desirable

• Master’s degree in Epidemiology, Public Health, Data Science, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or a related field
• Academic excellence in research and experience with publications

Experience: Essential

• At least 10 years’ experience as an epidemiologist working on infectious diseases surveillance and public health emergencies
• Skilled in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system at local and or international level.
• Skilled time management and ability to work with short deadlines
• Strong communicator and ability to communicate in both written and verbal format
• Excellent collaborator and experience working in teams
• Extensive knowledge in infectious disease program management
• Extensive ability in epidemic intelligence and conducting risk assessments
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision is required
• Extensive expertise using data analysis software
• Previous experience in preparing reports on disease surveillance and notifiable diseases notification system.

Desirables

• Prior experience working with the United Nations (UN) or other international organization
• Field experience with public health and infectious disease surveillance systems/monitoring
• Experience with data cleaning and working with complex data sets

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
• Proficient in data analysis software (SPSS, STATA)
• Experience with data visualization platform such as Power BI or Tableau etc.
• Possess very strong quantitative data management and analysis skills
• Understand and apply privacy and ethics laws, policies and principles as they apply to health data

Language: English is required; a second UN working language is an asset