Senior International Consultant –Public Health Intelligence (PHI)

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Qualifications

Area of expertise:

Senior International Consultant –Public Health Intelligence (PHI)

Purpose of consultancy

The senior consultant – public health intelligence (PHI) will provide expert service to carry out regional PHI activities covering WHO South-East Asia Region, including detection, verification, risk assessment and communication of acute public health events, as well as signal, event and alert management, as part of the Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment (HIM) unit of WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) at WHO SEARO. The Senior Consultant will also facilitate the establishment and operationalization of the regional PHI community of practice and support the implementation of PHI capacity-building activities across Member States, promoting cross-country collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Background

WHO South-East Asia Region continues to face various health emergencies such as infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and food safety issues. Moreover, the context and consequences of health emergencies are becoming increasingly complex. It is crucial to continue our collective efforts to strengthen health security systems, including holistic systems to generate PHI to guide decision making.

Globally, the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) mandates WHO to carry out public health intelligence (PHI) activities. For example, Articles 5 and 9 require surveillance to detect public health events that may cause international disease spread. Article 11 requires WHO to share the information through the event Information site (EIS) and disease outbreak news (DON) as appropriate.

In WHO South-East Asia Region, informed by lessons learnt from recent severe emergencies in the Region, including the COVID-19 pandemic, SEARO worked with Member States to develop Strategic Framework for Action for Strengthening Surveillance, Risk Assessment and Field Epidemiology for Health Security Threats in the WHO South-East Asia Region. One of the key priorities highlighted in the Framework is to further strengthen Regional Public Health Intelligence (PHI) function to ensure timely regional alert for health security threats, including the establishment of a Regional PHI community. The framework also calls for strengthening regional networks and community on PHI for continuous learning and to build PHI capacities across the Region.

To fulfill the roles mandated by IHR(2005) and priorities defined in the Regional strategic framework, it is critical for WHE/SEARO to ensure uninterrupted regional PHI functions on 24/7 basis. This requires maintaining a workforce of qualified individuals, engaging consultants to bolster the team capacity.

Deliverables

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Area Manager – Health Emergency Information and Risk Asssessment, the consultant will undertake following duties.

·         Coordinate regional event-based surveillance (EBS) activities utilizing diverse systems and methodologies, including Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS), to ensure timely detection and documentation of signals relevant to Member States.

·         Apply technical expertise in triage, verification, and signal management, maintaining accurate records within the Event Management System (EMS) and the SEARO PHI database.

·         Contribute expert input to initial and rapid risk assessments (RRAs), with emphasis on hazard characterization, exposure analysis, contextual evaluation, and articulation of operational implications.

·         Strengthen PHI systems through continuous refinement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), enhancement of monitoring tools, and optimization of signal management workflows to improve consistency and analytical responsiveness.

·         Provide technical orientation and methodological guidance on PHI to the SEARO HIM team, aligned with day-to-day operational responsibilities and established methodologies.

·         Draft articles for communication of public health events based on IHR provisions, including articles for the Event Information Site (EIS) and Disease Outbreak News (DON).

·         Develop strategic information products, such as daily PHI summary, external bi-weekly epidemiological bulletins, and internal presentation slides and weekly reports ensuring accuracy, clarity, relevance, and timeliness.

·         Facilitate organization and strengthening of the PHI/EIOS community of practice in the WHO South-East Asia Region including external stakeholders from diverse sectors, promoting a One Health approach.

·         Plan and implement PHI capacity-strengthening activities in countries of the Region, including mentoring programmes, thematic capacity building sessions, and deployment of customized resources adapted to national contexts.

·         Act as the focal point for rollout, training and enhanced use of the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) initiative.

·         Respond to requests from PAM-HIM when appropriate.

·         Submit activity reports on monthly basis and a final report at the end of the assignment.

Deliverable 1.: Strategic input into PHI reporting and regional EBS activities, expected on a daily basis.

Deliverable 2: Technical contributions to weekly and bi-weekly intelligence products, expected on routine basis.

Deliverable 3: Expert input to RRAs, EIS, and DON articles for acute events, expected when required.

Deliverable 4: Updated SOPs and tools to streamline PHI workflows at HIM/WHE/SEARO expected by November 2025.

Deliverable 5: Organization of the webinars and their summary reports, expected at least once every two months

Deliverable 6: Outline of PHI capacity-building curriculum for trainings in the Region, and implementation plan, by January 2025.

Deliverable 7: Monthly activity summary reports, and end-of-assignment consultancy report.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: Advanced university degree (Master level or above) in public health, epidemiology, medicine, veterinary medicine, or related health discipline.

Experience

Essential:

·         At least seven years of professional experience in public health surveillance, infectious disease prevention and control or public health information management and analytics.

·         At least three years of experiences conducting PHI activities, including the interpretation of epidemiological data, development of situational reports, and provision of evidence-based recommendations to support health response strategies.

·         International experiences involved in designing and implementing PHI capacity-building activities, including training workshops, multisectoral stakeholder engagement, and development of strategic tools to strengthen surveillance and analytical capabilities.

·         Experiences involved in responses for disease outbreaks or health emergencies.

Desirable:

·         Experience working with the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

·         Experience conducting rapid risk assessment of acute public health events.

·         Experience developing and publishing information products for public health matters in English.

·         Experience engaging with One Health stakeholders across sectors to advance public health intelligence functions.

·         Experience working in resource-limited countries for public health programme.

Skills/Knowledge:

Essential:

·         Demonstrated strong interpersonal and communication skills, with appropriate diplomacy in communicating with relevant government and WHO stakeholders.

·         Demonstrated capacities to work as part of a team of people with various backgrounds and cultures.

·         Proven ability to write technical documents and information products on public health matters in a clear and concise manner.

·         Proven capacity to synthesize complex information from varied sources and convey key insights in formats tailored to different audiences.

·         Ability to quickly summarize complex information from various sources and communicate the key points under time pressure, in formats tailored to different audiences.

·         Demonstrated technical knowledge and skills in surveillance, investigation, risk assessment and control of infectious diseases with epidemic and pandemic control.

·         Good understanding of the international health regulations (IHR 2005) and all-hazards approach.

Desirable

·         Knowledge and skill in epidemiological analysis

·         Sound knowledge and skills in database management