Recruitment Notice: NATIONAL CONSULTANT, FINALIZATION OF THE 2023-2024 SURVEILLANCE STRENGTHENING PLAN

FINALIZATION OF THE 2023-2024 SURVEILLANCE STRENGTHENING PLAN AND THE UPDATE OF THE NATIONAL GUIDE FOR THE SURVEILLANCE OF DISEASES PREVENTABLE BY VACCINATION – (2210347)

Grade: No grade
Contractual Arrangement: External consultant
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days) : 1 MONTH
Job Posting: Nov 14, 2022, 3:17:50 PM
Closing Date: Nov 29, 2022, 11:59:00 PM
Primary Location: Cameroon-Yaounde
Organization: AF_CMR Cameroon
Schedule: Full-time

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that the deadline for receipt of applications indicated above reflects your personal device’s system settings.

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TOR FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A NATIONAL CONSULTANT IN CHARGE OF FINALIZING THE 2023-2024 SURVEILLANCE STRENGTHENING PLAN AND UPDATING THE NATIONAL GUIDE FOR THE SURVEILLANCE OF VACCINATION PREVENTABLE DISEASES

Background and justification
The Global Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative has been confronted since 2016 with an upsurge in epidemics of circulating poliovirus derived from a vaccine strain (cVDPV) affecting countries free of WPV including Cameroon since 2019. In 2022, cases of WPV 1 were detected in 2022 in Malawi and Mozambique, indicating a reimportation of wild poliovirus into the African region. This urgent crisis is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Late detection of WPV1 and cVDPV2 transmission remains one of the greatest risks to polio eradication, as does the recent introduction of the new type 2 oral polio vaccine (nOPV2), in response to outbreaks of cVDPV2,

Surveillance capabilities must evolve and be maintained indefinitely to support the 2030 Agenda for Immunization’s commitment to broader integration of VPD surveillance, maintaining International Health Regulations reporting obligations ( RSI) and track community transmission in the highly unlikely but high-impact event of a laboratory-level containment failure.

The new poliomyelitis eradication strategy 2022-2026, one of whose objectives is to improve detection and response through sensitive surveillance, calls for a transformation of the approach to this end, which will be achieved through :

supporting countries in transitioning to electronic surveillance systems that are aligned with national health information systems and national eHealth policies and strategies to ensure that all programs can benefit from polio investments and interoperability;
supporting countries to create and own rigorous quality standards for AFP surveillance; the establishment and optimization of effective and sustainable environmental monitoring and community-based surveillance systems; and conducting laboratory testing and poliovirus sequence analysis at country level, where possible;
the implementation of innovations in sample tracking and transport, targeting regions with the greatest delays;
the implementation of direct detection and other new technologies for the detection and characterization of viruses;
the adoption of national and subnational supervision, monitoring and surveillance systems and activities that provide opportunities for continuous system evaluation, training and coaching of staff, and use of data for a response rapid, such as online information for action (WebIFA) and electronic surveillance (eSURV);
integration into other VPD surveillance systems and meeting GPEI commitments as an integral part of the global global VPD surveillance strategy
Following the adoption of this new strategy, the Global Polio Surveillance Action (GPSAP) 2022-2024 was developed in alignment and countries were invited by WHO AFRO to develop their national surveillance strengthening plans.

Due to the major changes made to the strategy, the national surveillance guide will also have to be updated.

Objectives
The consultant must bring his expertise to the Ministry of Health in:

The finalization of the national plan for strengthening surveillance 2023-2024.
Revision of the national guide for surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases

The national consultant will:
Placed under the general supervision of the WHO Representative in Cameroon and the technical supervision of the IVD Focal Point, the expert recruited to this position will be responsible for:

Providing technical support for the finalization of a national plan integrated surveillance strengthening of vaccine-preventable diseases and aligned with current global targets covering the period 2022-2024.
Revise the surveillance guide for vaccine-preventable diseases in Cameroon

In more detail, this will involve:

Validating the national objectives, milestones and monitoring indicators for the epidemiological surveillance of poliomyelitis, measles, yellow fever and TMN;
Validate the surveillance strategies and activities necessary to set up and maintain a surveillance system sensitive enough to detect the circulation of any poliovirus
Ensure that the integration and context of Covid-19 are taken into account in the definition of VPD surveillance strategies;
Budget validated activities;
Propose an implementation
schedule Provide technical support to the Ministry of Public Health during the workshop to finalize the surveillance strengthening plan;
Provide the necessary support to align the VPD surveillance guide in Cameroon with the most current VPD surveillance standards, in particular the alignment with the global polio surveillance action plan 2022-2024, stemming from the new polio eradication strategy 2022-2026;
Align the VPD surveillance guide in Cameroon with the third edition of the IDSR technical guide
Introduce the requirements related to the introduction of nOPV2 in the VPD surveillance guide in Cameroon
Revise the measles investigation sheets and yellow fever in Cameroon;
Provide technical support to the Ministry of Public Health during the workshop for the revision of the national VPD surveillance guide;

Methodology
Appropriate the documents developed by the technical group
Research and collect all the information or document useful for the development of the strategic plan through interviews with various actors and the documentary review;
Prepare, assist and facilitate preparatory work for workshops with the EPI;
Consolidate the contributions of the parties to the documents prepared;
Share periodic reports on the progress of the strategic plan development process;
Share a final report at the end of the contract;
Perform any other task assigned to him by the hierarchy.
Profile of the expert
Have a postgraduate degree in health sciences, public health, or epidemiology;
Have a good knowledge of the expanded immunization program;
Have at least ten years’ experience in strategic and operational planning;
Have experience in health program management;
Have a good knowledge of the Cameroonian health system;
Have the ability to prepare, lead and summarize meetings;
Have a command of French or English and a working knowledge of the other language;
Master the computer tool and the use of operating software: Word, Excel, Power point;
Previous national and international experience in the development of strategic and advocacy documents is an asset.
Application file
Interested candidates are requested to send their application file in a sealed envelope including a curriculum vitae accompanied by the technical and financial offers as well as a copy of the identity document to the Administration of the WHO Office.

Terms of the contract:
Type of contract: Consultant

Duration: 01 month

Funding: WHO

Apply ONLY online via the Internet link whose address is: https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=2210347&tz=GMT%2B01%3A00&tzname=Africa%2FDouala