Health Officer-NOB (EVM and EPI-TA-364 days), Dhaka. (Only for Bangladeshi)

1.      Purpose of Assignment:

Under the guidance of the Chief of Health Section and direct supervision by the Health Specialist (Immunization), Health Officer (EPI and EVM) will provide technical support to Ministry of Health in implementation of the Health System Strengthening for Vaccine Preventable Diseases Surveillance and Effective Vaccine Management grant, supported by Gavi Alliance.

Bangladesh has already met some Millennium Development Goal targets and has made considerable progress in increasing child survival rate. Having achieved high coverage of the routine immunizations, Bangladesh is now aiming higher in its National EPI goals.  In addition to focusing on quality and equity, new vaccines are being introduced into the immunization schedule.  This requires significantly enhanced system capacity, in terms of dry and cold storage, training of personnel, monitoring and surveillance and overall service delivery. 

An Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) assessment has been carried out in 2014 and an EVM improvement plan was finalized in the end of 2014. The overall performance of the vaccine management is “very good” with 82% aggregated across all criteria, which is substantially better than the norm. However, there is need to implement and monitor the EVM improvement plan to address risks of parts of the infrastructure operating at its life cycle end and capacity limits and to prepare for the introduction of new vaccines. This will require an increase of more than 70% by 2018 in storage capacity for each of the 3 tiers of the supply and cold chain if IPV, PCV, Rota and HPV are introduced. 

Bangladesh received GAVI HSS-II grant jointly implemented by WHO, UNICEF & MOHFW for 3 years programme, which started in July 2016. Gavi’s strategic goals are to “contribute to strengthening the capacity of integrated health systems to deliver immunisation”. This grant aims to achieve the impact through the immunization outcomes by strengthening the health system in the following areas of the WHO-recommended HSS building blocks: information systems and supply chain. 

-        Objective 1: Strengthen Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) surveillance and its integration into HMIS;

-        Objective 2: Improve cold chain and supply chain management system performance

UNICEF is responsible to implement the activities under objective 2.  The activities of this assignment are part of a broader intervention which envisages the improvement of EVM in Bangladesh. This includes equipment, infrastructure support, outsourced services, technical assistance, management actions, capacity building, and workshops at national and international level.

Through GAVI HSS2 assistance, funds have been earmarked for dedicated staff for overseeing and managing objectives 2 of the proposal. As such, this TOR is being developed to recruit one staff as Temporary Appointment (TA) for EPI and effective vaccine management improvement to be supported for a period of initial 11 months with possibility of extension.

The incumbent will be based in Health Section of BCO, however would spend 30 percent of his/her time in the field dedicated for field level activities as per the TOR. The incumbent will report to Health Specialist (Immunization), and also coordinate with Health Manager (Health System Strengthening) and other staffs in health, nutrition, WASH section as part of overall Health System Strengthening efforts of UNICEF.

Major duties and responsibilities:

1)       Coordinate with the DGHS, MoH, WHO, and other relevant stakeholders (HED, PWD etc.) and provide technical support in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Objectives 2 of Health System Strengthening project for Effective Vaccine Management, as supported by Gavi Alliance.

2)      Provide technical assistance to the EPI MIS unit for establishing an effective immunization supply chain & logistics management information system. Provide support at national and sub-national level in the process of transition from existing system to real time data management system

3)      Provide technical assistance to Government and other partners in developing the guidelines, training materials and conduct the trainings/ meetings/ workshops and program review meetings/workshops.

4)      Provide technical assistance in revising and developing regulatory framework and support in conducting training of technical personnel in selected areas of EVM (in accordance with the EVM improvement plan) at central, district and upazila levels

5)      Provide support to supply section of UNICEF and MoH in designing & layout of physical structure of 32 districts and finalization of specification & design of central and sub-national cold rooms

6)      Collects and analyses data for the situation analysis, project planning, management, and monitoring and evaluation purposes. Prepares tables, graphs and other statistical data. Reports outcome of analysis and proposes corrective actions

7)      Closely work with other health colleagues both at BCO and Zonal offices for timely implementation, oversight, financial management, achieving results and reporting of UNICEF supported activities of different MNCAH projects as per the Rolling Work-Plan 2017-2018 

8)      Provide technical assistance and support technical agency in conducting surveys, researches and process documentation related to improve vaccine and logistics management under the project 

9)      Collaborate with the relevant UNICEF programmes involved in Gavi HSS activities, as well as other partners, to ensure that the programme needs are identified and goals achieved.  Maintain necessary and adequate liaison with government counterparts and institutions to ensure good cooperation and communication.  Collaborate with the Operations, government programmes and Government authorities to establish and maintain sound internal controls.

10)  Provide support to health specialists in updating immunization strategy, new vaccine introduction guideline, processing the sales orders and monitoring the supply plan; provide inputs in donor reports and fact sheets, develop case studies, briefing notes, projects presentations and other reports when necessary.

11)  Any other relevant tasks assigned by the supervisor

 Qualifications or specialized knowledge/experience/competencies required for the assignment:

Education:

University Degree in medicine, public health, health research, health policy and/or management, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.

Work experience:

A minimum of 2 years of professional work experience in public health planning and management and/or in relevant areas of maternal and child health programmes preferably in immunization programme and cold chain management. Working experience and familiarity with the health programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, international organization or any other agencies will be an asset. Preference would be given to candidate who has knowledge and experiences of implementation and monitoring of Effective vaccine management & new vaccine within the government health system of Bangladesh.

 Language requirements: Fluency in English and very good working knowledge of Bangla

 Competencies/skills: Good knowledge of MS office (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint)

 Competency Profile

i)  Core Values (Required)

·         Commitment

·         Diversity and Inclusion 

·         Integrity

 ii)         Core Competencies (Required)

            Communication (II), working with people (I), drive for results (I)

 iii)        Functional Competencies (Required)

Formulating strategies and concepts (I), analyzing (II), applying technical expertise (II), learning and researching (II), planning and organizing (II)