Special Service Agreement (SSA) holder for Communicable diseases data management

VN#053 - Job Title: Special Service Agreement (SSA) holder for Communicable diseases data management

1. Background:

The WHO Viet Nam Country Office has been providing support to strengthen the capacity of the General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM), Ministry of Health (MoH) for national emergency preparedness for and response to COVID-19 outbreak in Viet Nam. Between September 2020 and May 2022, project personnel have been recruited to provide technical assistance to GDPM in the areas of Surveillance including Sentinel surveillance, Risk assessment (RA) & Emergency Operations Center (EOC); Communication and public health activities; International Health Regulations (IHR) and Point of Entry (PoE); and Laboratory (LAB). During this period, the engaged project personnel had worked very closely with GDPM staff at the respective departments where they were attached to and contributed significantly to all the work related to COVID-19 surveillance, preparedness and response among other activities under the GDPM-WHO collaborative 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 workplans.

Since early 2022, Viet Nam has been making a transition from pandemic response toward sustained management of COVID-19. Accordingly, GDPM needs to continue working on the above-mentioned areas for sustaining management of COVID-19 while ensuring its capacity to respond to ongoing public health emergencies such as monkeypox, severe acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology, and other disease outbreak in country including dengue, hand-foot-mouth disease, seasonal influenza, adenovirus and possibly other potential outbreaks. Meanwhile, as the MOH-WHO collaborative workplan for 2022-2023 was recently approved, there is a need of an extra support for GDPM to fulfil the activities committed in the workplan.

To maintain the human resource that is acutely required in the current context, the WHO Viet Nam country office is supporting GDPM to recruit the involved positions, among which is the SSA holder for Communicable diseases data management.

Term of reference

The SSA holder for communicable diseases data management will work under the direct supervision of the Leaders of the Communicable Disease Control Department of GDPM, Ministry of Health, and in a collaboration with the WHO Viet Nam country office to provide technical support the following activities:

To develop, review, update and further adjust strategic planning for communicable disease data management
To review, update, implement monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of communicable disease data management activities along the surveillance system at different levels and of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) network,
To reinforce data analysis, data visualization and use of data for action at different levels of the surveillance system and the EOC network;
To support GDPM’s activities related to Event-based surveillance (EBS), communicable diseases data management, EOC as listed in the WHO-GDPM cooperative workplan 2022-2023 and as required
To support completion of deliverables related to the forthcoming DFC activities pertaining to surveillance and response including EOC so that those will be submitted on time
To attend bi-weekly briefings and ad hoc meetings as required with WHO Viet Nam to provide updates on the work progress and to discuss issues that need to be addressed, and
To carry out other duties as requested by supervisors.

Expected outcome(s)

Enhanced GDPM’s preparedness and response capacity for COVID-19, outbreaks of infectious diseases and other public health emergencies with the following details:

A strategic plan for data management of communicable diseases (including COVID-19, monkeypox and other diseases of national priority) is developed, reviewed and adjusted as needed
Communicable disease surveillance data management and of EOC network at different levels is monitored, assessed and adjusted periodically as needed
Data analysis, visualization and use (as per the WHO guidance on Epidemic Analysis for Response Decision-making) is further strengthened, including through EOC performance at different levels along the preventive medicine system
GDPM’s activities related to communicable disease surveillance especially EBS and EOC are supported including those under the GDPM-WHO cooperative workplan 2022-2023 with quality deliverables to be submitted on time
Monthly working progress reports to GDPM and WHO

2. Planned timeline: 1 January 2023 – 30 September 2023

3. Specific requirements

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor on Public Health or Doctor on Preventive Medicine, or
Bachelor of Science, specialized in data/ ICT management
Holding a Master qualification in public health, specializing in data/information management would be of advantage

Experience

2 to 5 years working in public health systems
2 to 5 years of full-time working experience in management of disease surveillance data
Prior experience working with Ministry of Health or its Institutions or INGOs supporting MOH in data management and/or EOC areas is of advantage.

4. Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

Skills/Knowledge

Computer science
Data analysis using basic and advanced software (excel, epi info, epi data, SPSS, R, QGIS, etc.)
Data visualization and system interoperability
Planning, monitoring and evaluation of surveillance data
Coordination and negotiation skills
Teamwork and interpersonal skills

Languages and level required

Good English for reading, writing and speaking

5. Place of assignment

Off-site: Hanoi
The SSA holder will be based at the Department of Communicable Disease Control of GDPM, MOH in Hanoi

6. Medical clearance: The selected consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work. 7. Travel: Travel may be required. 8. Budget: Monthly rate follows UN-EU cost norm equivalent to the required education qualification and experience. Travel costs excluded.

Please take note of the following when submitting application:

The contractor will be responsible for paying taxes, if any.

Those who are interested can contact our focal person before/by 16 December 2022