International Consultant: Unintentional Injury prevention and Sensory functions

..

Area of expertise

International Consultant: Unintentional Injury prevention and Sensory functions

Purpose of consultancy: To provide technical assistance and coordinate with WHO country offices and Member States of WHO South-East Asia Region to carry following key activities:

Support the implementation of unintentions injury prevention mainly focusing on road safety including Bloomberg Initiative activities for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), drowning prevention and trauma care including necessary technical and capacity-building support for Member States in the Region.

To implement the new WHO drowning technical package and other strategic and policy on road safety and drowning prevention.

To supports the sensory function, disability and rehabilitation primarily to coordinate the Global status report on eye health and SPECS implementation.

Background 

Eye health and vision profoundly influence individual well-being, productivity, educational attainment, and national development.Eye health impacts on all 17 SDG targets. In 2020, WHO Member States adopted WHA73.4, endorsing Integrated People-Centred Eye Care (IPEC) and committing to eliminate avoidable vision impairment. Action Plan for integrated people centred eye care in South-East Asia 2022-2030 was developed and launched during the High-Level Meeting in Hyderabad in 2023.This Action Plan including the global targets was endorsed during RC in 2022 and needs reporting every two years. WHO has launched the SPECS to accelerate effective refractive error coverge. Global status report on eye health is being initiated and will be published latest by Dec 2027 which requires extensive coordination with National Data Focal Points for data collection, data validation and publication.

Unintentional Injuries is the leading cause of death. Road traffic injuries alone cause nearly 1.3 million deaths annually. For WHO South-East Asia Region, road traffic injuries is a high priority to achieve SDG target. Since the launch of global Plan for the decade of action for road safety 2021-2030, various global and regional initiatives including meeting of the Head of road safety lead agency, Ministerial meeting, regional meeting were convened for acceleration of the road safety within member states and achieve targets of 50% reduction in mortality from road traffic injury by 2030. Countries have also identified road safety as the one of the top priorities in the coming biennium needing support from the Regional Office. Regional Office has planned an high level meeting of transport and health ministries. All these requires extensive planning, implementation and monitoring and to support the Member States.

Deliverables

The consultant will work in close coordination and under the guidance of WHO Regional office and country office focal persons for Disabilities, Injury prevention and sensory functions to deliver following key deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: Interim report on validated data on global status report on eye health submitted:June 2026

• Deliverable 2: Complete report of Global Status report on eye health data vailidation submitted to HQ: December 2026

• Deliverable 3: Regional Status Report on Eye Health published and report on SPECS implementation status completed : December 2027

• Deliverable 4: Policy Brief on road safety for the member states published: December 2026

• Deliverable 5:Complete report for the regional meeting on transport and health ministries finalized: December 2026

• Deliverable 6: Report on the policy actions by road safety lead agencies following the regional meeting in 2026 submitted: December 2027

• Deliverable 7: Monthly report on the activities: Every month till Contract period

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: Minimum first university degree in medicine, Public health, Injury, rehabilitation or socialsocial sciences

Desirable: Post-graduate degree in public health, injury science and eye care 

Experience:

Essential:Working in WHO and WHO Systems. The candidate should have at least 5 to 10 years of relevant experience in Injury prevention, rehabilitation and sensory functions activities. Specifically, the candidate would be expected to have experience in the conducting global status reports, development of multi-setoral strategies for injury prevention, road safety and drowning prevention.

Desirable: Previous experience in conducting Global Status Report on Road Safety, drowning prevention and sensory functions experience of supporting global status report.

Skills/Knowledge:

Essential: Communication skills and ability to coordinate between multiple stakeholders, strong advocacy and coordination skills to engage with country officials, ability to work independently and collaboratively with the remote team and align with strategic goals.

Languages and level required:

Expert knowledge of English both in writing and speaking. Intermediate knowledge of any of the WHO South -East Asia regional languages

Location

The consultants are expected to work on-site / off-site as per need basis (Preferably within 3 hours of India Standard Time Zone).

Travel

Both on-site and off-site support may be required based on country needs and specific TORs of the consultancy

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded)

Remuneration: Daily range of USD 350 - 499 (depending on the experience and the nature of work).

Living expenses

Travel expenses and per diem will be covered as per WHO rules applicable to consultants for approved official travel during the contract period.

Expected duration of contract

Full time: 22 Months

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits workforce regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.

• The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply for WHO jobs.

• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter (https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values) into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of short-listed candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority.

• WHO shall have no responsibility for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.

• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.

• In case the recruitment website does not display properly, please retry by: (i) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click the link for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates.