Regional Advisor, Research, Vaccines and Medical Countermeasures

The Regional Advisor leads the Research, Vaccines and Medical Countermeasures unit providing strategic guidance on research and development, access to medical countermeasures during epidemics and pandemics, and vaccination interventions in emergencies. The role involves collaboration with WHO HQ and AFRO clusters, managing technical teams, and representing AFRO in partnerships and donor engagements.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership, coordination and managerial support within the unit ensuring efficient and effective activities.
• Develop and propose technical health policies and strategies for implementation through collaboration with Country Offices.
• Oversee a unit of technical teams specialized in various domains and facilitate efficient team synergies.
• Manage the programme area delivering objectives through managing staff, financial resources and work planning.
• Lead and conduct research on best practices and disseminate information for capacity building.
• Manage monitoring, evaluation and reporting of key performance indicators and reporting requirements.
• Serve as technical reference among peer community, UN Agencies and other stakeholders.
• Represent the programme area at various meetings.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of Preparedness Flagship initiative.
• Supervise implementation and work of Pandemic Influenza partnership and update relevant guidance.
• Lead AFRO support for vaccination in emergency contexts ensuring regional coordination and guiding decision making.
• Liaise with detection, verification and risk assessment teams to strengthen event-based surveillance for VPD outbreaks.
• Support teams in applications and access to vaccines such as OCV for campaigns.
• Collaborate with IVD and Polio teams addressing vaccine preventable diseases in emergencies.
• Coordinate Research officers managing specific projects, research priorities, ethics framework, and Collaborating Centers.
• Represent AFRO in MCM pillar of HEP core capabilities and MCM network.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree in medicine, or related field, and Master’s level qualifications in public health, epidemiology, infectious diseases, or emergency/disaster management.
• Post graduate studies or specialized training related to public health (desirable).
• A PhD in one of the above-mentioned fields (desirable).
• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in immunization programmes, health emergencies, and research.
• Demonstrated experience in managing human and financial resources.
• Demonstrated experience in working at the international level and good working knowledge of the African region.
• Experience with UN Agencies or international NGOs would be an added advantage (desirable).
• Expert knowledge of English and intermediate knowledge of French; intermediate knowledge of Portuguese or another WHO language is desirable.
• Strong presentation skills.
• Good skills in office packages, and ERP based systems.
• Ability to engage and communicate effectively and diplomatically with external partners including Ministries of Health, Donor institutions, Civil Society, and other stakeholders.
• In-depth knowledge of health emergencies planning and partner coordination, policies and practices within the UN, other UN specialized agencies, as well as donors and partners.

Skills

• Immunization Programmes
• Health Emergencies Management
• Research in Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Infectious Diseases Expertise
• Emergency Preparedness
• Disaster Management
• Human Resources Management
• Financial Resource Management
• International Health Agencies Collaboration
• Health Policy Development
• Partner Coordination
• Donor Engagement Strategies
• Vaccination Interventions
• Medical Countermeasures
• Presentation Skills
• Office Packages
• ERP Systems
• Stakeholder Communication

Languages

English, French