Global Health Security Technical Advisor job at The Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC)

Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) seeks to recruit competent, dynamic, motivated and innovative candidates for the following positions;

Job Summary:

The Global Health Security Advisor will provide regional technical leadership for the prevention, detection and response to public health threats in the Acholi, Ankole, Kigezi and Lango regions including cross-border preparedness and response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan. S/he will work closely with the Ministry of Health, the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC), Regional Referral Hospitals, District Health Teams and Program Officers to ensure that regional and district-level work across the four regions is coherent, evidence-based and aligned with national priorities.

Responsibilities or duties

Duties and responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance for the Global Health Security (GHS) portfolio in line with Uganda’s National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS).
• Work with GHS Program Officers and District Health Teams to develop district workplans.
• Support strengthening of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR), including indicator- and event-based surveillance, community-based surveillance through Village Health Teams (VHTs), and timely reporting through DHIS2 and the electronic IDSR (eIDSR) platform.
• Strengthen coordination among human health, animal health, wildlife and environment sectors to address zoonotic threats such as viral haemorrhagic fevers and anthrax.
• Support regional and district emergency preparedness including District Task Forces (DTFs) and rapid response teams.
• Strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC), case management, isolation capacity and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) in supported districts.
• Support cross-border coordination mechanisms with DRC and South Sudan including joint district meetings, information-sharing and contact tracing.
• Strengthen screening and referral at designated points of entry on the DRC and South Sudan border.
• Coordinate with other partners in the region to support preparedness and response activities.
• Represent the program in national and regional technical working groups, regional and district coordination meetings and cross-border coordination forums.
• Ensure data quality and use for decision making.
• Develop GHS concept notes, implementation plans, budgets, technical briefs and activity reports as per stipulated timelines.
• Contribute documentation of best practices, success stories, abstracts and publications from the supported districts/regions.
• Perform any other duties as requested and assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications and skills required

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Veterinary Public Health, Global Health or a related field
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in public health emergency preparedness and response, epidemiology or health security.
• Demonstrated experience with IDSR and outbreak response
• Experience in cross-border, refugee or humanitarian health programming is highly desirable
• Field epidemiology training is an added advantage
• Experience working with local government/districts and willingness to work upcountry.
• Excellent written, oral communication and presentation skills.
• Computer proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Provide technical guidance for the Global Health Security (GHS) portfolio in line with Uganda’s National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS).
• Work with GHS Program Officers and District Health Teams to develop district workplans.
• Support strengthening of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR), including indicator- and event-based surveillance, community-based surveillance through Village Health Teams (VHTs), and timely reporting through DHIS2 and the electronic IDSR (eIDSR) platform.
• Strengthen coordination among human health, animal health, wildlife and environment sectors to address zoonotic threats such as viral haemorrhagic fevers and anthrax.
• Support regional and district emergency preparedness including District Task Forces (DTFs) and rapid response teams.
• Strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC), case management, isolation capacity and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) in supported districts.
• Support cross-border coordination mechanisms with DRC and South Sudan including joint district meetings, information-sharing and contact tracing.
• Strengthen screening and referral at designated points of entry on the DRC and South Sudan border.
• Coordinate with other partners in the region to support preparedness and response activities.
• Represent the program in national and regional technical working groups, regional and district coordination meetings and cross-border coordination forums.
• Ensure data quality and use for decision making.
• Develop GHS concept notes, implementation plans, budgets, technical briefs and activity reports as per stipulated timelines.
• Contribute documentation of best practices, success stories, abstracts and publications from the supported districts/regions.
• Perform any other duties as requested and assigned by the supervisor.

• Excellent written, oral communication and presentation skills.
• Computer proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Veterinary Public Health, Global Health or a related field
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in public health emergency preparedness and response, epidemiology or health security.
• Demonstrated experience with IDSR and outbreak response
• Experience in cross-border, refugee or humanitarian health programming is highly desirable
• Field epidemiology training is an added advantage
• Experience working with local government/districts and willingness to work upcountry.