SPECIALIST IN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE

Médecins Sans Frontières, an international medical humanitarian association founded in 1971, provides medical assistance to populations whose lives are threatened: mainly in cases of armed conflict, but also epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters, or exclusion from care.

MSF WACA (West and Central Africa) was created in 2019 and aims to bring a change in the dynamics of the MSF movement. WACA is driven by doctors and humanitarians of MSF from West and Central Africa who wish to be heard, to contribute and above all to proactively assume responsibility for the humanitarian mission of the organization. WACA reflects an identity of humanitarians, an aspiration for MSF, a truly inclusive movement of people who share the values of empathy for others. Its strength is based on associative fiber is amplified by concrete operational objectives.

We Are Looking for: SPECIALIST IN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE

Based in: Abidjan with possibility of field visit

Type of Contract: Fixed Term Contract (with possibility to extend)

Position to be filled: April, 2022

Mission

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

Objectives

The Epidemiologist, Surveillance Specialist, has the following specific responsibilities:

· Analyze surveillance data and assist in data-driven decision-making

· Contribute to all aspects of early detection of acute public health events.

· Feed the network of contacts and functional relations at the 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 as part 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 maintain a database of reported historical events in the region to facilitate access, retrieval and analysis of data and information necessary for risk assessment.

· Update standard procedures and tools for epidemiological intelligence activities

· Organize initial and multidisciplinary risk assessments for eligible events

· Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including support for other MSF missions, as required.

Main responsibilities / Activities

· Conducts key intervention epidemiology activities (description encompassing time, location and people involved with emphasis on mapping where necessary) and provides intervention advice.

· Maintains a surveillance system to control epidemiological trends of corresponding epidemic-prone diseases through the compilation and analysis of surveillance data for diseases with epidemic potential

· Regularly prepares (weekly, monthly, and quarterly) written reports on progress and results for the Medical Coordinator/HQ, the Epidemiology Officer of WaCA Headquarters 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.

· Analysis and reports the results

· Establish and maintain appropriate surveillance systems and epidemiological controls.

· Offers training sessions for medical teams on appropriate epidemiological points to improve the team’s response capacity

Education

Master’s degree in Epidemiology (Strong component in Statistics) or in Public Health or Biostatistics or Medical Informatics

Soft Skills

· People management

· Commitment

· Flexibility

· Results orientated

· Teamwork and collaboration

Professional experience required

· Experience in field epidemiology including surveillance and investigation of epidemics

· Experience in data management and analysis specifically data visualization (data viz)

Languages

· Essential command of French and English

Computer Skills

· Mastery of analytical epidemiologic software: R or Python or STATA epidemiology.

· Mastery of spatial analysis technic in epidemiology and mapping software**