Surveillance officer

Details

Mission and objectives

WHO FJI organization mission TBD

Context

To coordinate and provide timely, tailored support and backstopping to 21 Pacific Island countries and areas, in 2010 the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office established the Division of Pacific Technical Support (DPS) in Suva, Fiji. The Division also includes six other offices in the Pacific; the Country Offices in Samoa and the Solomon Islands and Country Liaison Offices in Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga and Vanuatu. Working together as a Division, these offices provide support to: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
The Division’s work spans five main areas and is delivered in close collaboration with Pacific governments, other UN agencies, development partners, donors, and nongovernmental organizations to achieve better health outcomes for Pacific Island communities.
The Pacific Health Security and Communicable Diseases (PSC) unit covers three main areas of work – (1) WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (WHE), (2) communicable diseases, and (3) reproductive and maternal health/gender and equity. WHE brings together and enhances WHO’s operational, technical and normative capacity in outbreaks, emergencies and risk analysis to address all health hazards across the risk management cycle in a predictable, capable, dependable, adaptable and accountable manner.
Under overall guidance of the Head of WHO Country Office and Director, Pacific Technical Support (DPS), direct supervision and guidance of the Team Coordinator, PSC, and close collaboration with
counterparts at the Regional Office, HQ, other WHO staff and partners, the surveillance officer will effectively support Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in strengthening sub-national, national, and subregional surveillance system and supporting PICs in use of surveillance data for public health decision-making and timely response.

Task description

The incumbent will support WHO’s Division of Pacific Technical Support (DPS) Pacific Health Security and Communicable Diseases (PSC) to effectively support Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in strengthening sub-national, national, and sub-regional surveillance system and supporting PICs in use of surveillance data for public health decision-making and timely response.
Tasks include:
• Manage the timely and high-quality collection, analysis, production and dissemination of surveillance data/information. This includes response-specific information (who, what, where, when, how many, how quickly, current status), internal and external situation reports and updates, bulletins, internal and external presentations, assessments, Public Health Situation Analyses (PHSAs), and health inputs into strategic response plans (SRP).
• In close coordination with epidemiology and surveillance, and PHS team support the development and implementation of effective data management tools at the national and subnational levels in the PICs, including development, implementation and management of data collection tools, databases, dashboards, data governance mechanisms and related technical documentation.
• Support PICs to manage and use data for public health decision-making. Advise on opportunities to improve and integrate systems for improved gap analysis, planning and response. Ensure effective handover including technical documentation and governance of any tools created with and for PICs.
• Actively track changes public health events or outbreaks, coordinate risk assessment, and support preparedness and response ensuring adherence to the IHR (2005).
• Where required, travel to PICs to support health emergency preparedness and response, particularly in the areas of information/data management and response planning.
• Maintain regular contacts with MoHS surveillance teams and Pacific WHO country offices in consultation with DPS team to ensure complete and timely reporting of required data and provide feedback on quality of submitted data.
• Perform any other related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.