Chief Surveillance Officer, Epidemiology

  • Full Time
  • Lusaka, Zambia
  • Applications have closed

Population Council

TITLE:  Chief Surveillance Officer, Epidemiology

REPORTING TO: Country Director, Population Council

LOCATION: Lusaka, Zambia.

ASSIGNMENT LENGTH:  1 year, with a possibility for extension depending on funding.

BACKGROUND:

The Population Council Inc, is a sub-recipient of University of California San Francisco (UCSF)’s five-year Cooperative Agreement grant with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Zambia (CDC-Zambia), which aims to provide technical assistance (TA) to the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) and Implementing partners (IPs) to improve data quality and increase use of infectious disease data for programmatic planning. The Council is recruiting a Chief Surveillance Officer to support the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) in utilizing and strengthening available infectious disease surveillance data sources. This position requires a one-year commitment, with the potential for extension at the end of the period, subject to funding availability.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reporting to the Country Director, through the Council’s Senior Manager – Social & Behavioural Research, the position will be seconded to the ZNPHI, under the direction of the ZNPHI Director. The Chief Surveillance Officer key responsibilities shall include:

  • Participate in planning, designing and implementation of surveillance activities in collaboration with the MOH at national and county levels and their partners.
  • Participate in the development of protocols, data collection tools, and implementation of surveillance activities and surveys.
  • Support data analysis, interpretation, summarization and dissemination of data from MOH Health Management Information System (HMIS) and other available/upcoming data repositories.
  • Produce information outputs for use in epidemiological reports and dissemination in the ZNPHI Health Press Bulletin.
  • Provide support for utilizing existing HIV data systems and sources for improved HIV program planning, as well as extending HIV systems for other surveillance and disease program areas.
  • Participate in the creation and implementation of data dissemination tools for routinely collected data including the dashboards for county and national level data.
  • Assist in the development, revision, evaluation and updating of surveillance systems as well as standardizing reporting procedures.
  • Provide technical assistance, capacity building and mentorship to ZNPHI staff, FETP epidemiologists and other partners on surveillance evaluation, epidemiologic and surveillance methods, survey design, data collection, data management, data analysis and use, data interpretation, creation of tables and figures, and results dissemination through reports and manuscripts.

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • A Master’s degree in epidemiology or related field is required.
  • A PhD in a public health field will be an advantage.
  • Minimum of four years working in epidemiology, public health, surveillance or related field is required.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of concepts of infectious disease surveillance, data management and epidemiology is essential.
  • Broad knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the design and implementation of data collection and data reporting systems.
  • Experience and technical expertise with surveillance systems and surveys.
  • Experience preparing survey and surveillance protocols, technical reports and scientific manuscripts.
  • Experience in capacity building on surveillance and epidemiological methods.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and working well in teams within varying areas of expertise to accomplish project objectives is essential.
  • Demonstrated strong communication skills; ability to effectively communicate both orally and in writing, including that of complicated epidemiological information to non-technical persons.
  • Demonstrated experience working with DHIS2.
  • Fluency in English required.
  • Working knowledge of statistical software (e.g., STATA, SAS, R, SPSS, etc.)

Other Desired Skills/Qualities:

  • Ability to prioritize, work to meet deadlines, work with minimal supervision and multitask.
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Ability to summarize disparate information in a clear and concise manner
  • Experience working with Rapid SMS.
  • Willingness to work occasionally during evening hours to participate in phone calls

To Apply:

The Population Council provides equal opportunity; it does not discriminate against any person with regard to age, color, creed, national origin, disability, political belief, veteran status, religion, marital status, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Decisions on employment are based on an individual’s qualifications as related to the position for which s/he is being considered. The Council has an affirmative action plan and especially encourages applications from qualified women and members of minority groups. The Population Council is international in the composition of its board of trustees and its staff, as well as in the nature and deployment of its activities.

If you interested in the above position, please send your CV to [email protected] no later than 14th December, 2018. Please ensure that you mention www.gozambiajobs.com as the source of this job advertisement.


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