Epidemiology Surveillance Focal Point At Médecins Sans Frontières

Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in 1971, is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of medical professionals, logistics, administrative and various other professions, all guided by our medical ethics and our principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.

MSF WaCA, created in 2019, is the first MSF headquarters in Africa, and responds to the desire to reinvent the MSF movement after 50 years of humanitarian actions in the world, for more access to care, more reactivity and proactivity for greater medical coverage of affected populations in the world.

Why join us?

You are preparing to become a member of the MSF family, with over 50 years of emergency medical action that earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

We are an inclusive organization that considers social and professional well-being a right for all and provides an environment that takes into account the diversity of each member.

MSF WaCA claims an African anchorage that considers the local expertise with which it contributes in the implementation of its activities and makes each member, a key actor of the new dynamics of the humanitarian action in the world.

We Are Looking for: EPIDEMIOLOGY SURVEILLANCE FOCAL POINT

Department: Medical

Direct Manager: Head of Epidemiology

Functional Manager: Head of Epidemiology

Working %: 100%

Position Based in: Abidjan

Mobility: All WaCA’s Interventions Zones

Type of Contract: Fixed-Term Renewable

Position to be filled: As Soon As Possible

Objectives

Establish and maintain an epidemiological surveillance system at the mission level and in the sub-region of MSF interventions to enable data-driven decision-making in response programs to epidemics and other public health emergencies.

Main responsibilities

  • Conducts key intervention epidemiology activities (description encompassing time, place and people involved with emphasis on mapping where necessary) and provides intervention advice.
  • Maintains a surveillance system to monitor epidemiological trends of relevant diseases conducive to epidemics through the compilation and analysis of surveillance data on diseases with epidemic potential.
  • Prepares regular (weekly, monthly and quarterly) written reports on progress and results for the Medical Coordinator/QG, the Head of Epidemiology at WaCA HQ and when necessary for external collaborators/networks (Ministry of Health and other NGOs).
  • Manages data systems and ensures the accuracy and high quality of databases.
  • Analyzes and reports results
  • Implements and maintains appropriate surveillance systems and epidemiological controls.
  • Provides training sessions for medical teams on relevant epidemiological issues to improve the team’s response capacity.

Specific MSF responsibilities / Context

The Epidemiologist, Surveillance Specialist has the following specific responsibilities:

  • Analyze surveillance data and support data-driven decision-making
  • Contribute to all aspects of early detection of acute public health events.
  • Support the network of contacts and functional relationships at regional level for the detection, verification and follow-up of epidemiological events.
  • Implement systematic media monitoring for the collection of information related to events targeted by MSF within the framework of event-based surveillance.
  • Contribute to the verification, risk assessment, monitoring and sharing of information on events that may constitute a public health emergency.
  • Develop and/or update a database of historical events reported in the region to facilitate access, retrieval and analysis of data and information required for risk assessment.
  • Update standard procedures and tools for epidemiological intelligence activities;
  • Organize initial and multidisciplinary risk assessments for eligible events.
  • Carry out other related responsibilities as assigned, including support for other MSF missions as required.

Job requirements

Education

Master’s degree in epidemiology (with a strong statistical component) or in public health(with a strong statistical component) or biostatistics

Proven skills in data management and analysis with R or Python

Competencies

  • Personnel management
  • Commitment
  • Flexibility
  • Results
  • Teamwork

Professional experience required

  • Experience in field epidemiology, particularly the surveillance and investigation of epidemics
  • Experience in data management and analysis, specifically data visualization (data viz)
  • Mastery of visualization tools such as R Shiny or PowerBI (having a portfolio of achievements is a plus)

Languages Skills

  • Working proficiency in English and French

Computer Skills

  • R ou Python
  • MindManager,
  • Office Timeline
  • QGIS ou ARCGIS

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MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.

Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.

N.B.: This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.

Deadline: February 25th 2024 18:00 GMT
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

How to apply

Kindly Apply via this link: EPIDEMIOLOGY SURVEILLANCE FOCAL POINT (recruitee.com)

CLICK TO APPLY 

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