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Technical Officer, Data Monitoring Analysis and Forecasting

Copenhagen

  • Organization: WHO - World Health Organization
  • Location: Copenhagen
  • Grade: Mid level - P-3, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Operations and Administrations
    • Statistics
    • Information Technology and Computer Science
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • EU/CPS Division of Country Health Policies and Systems
  • Closing Date: Closed

Purpose of the Post:

The purpose of the post is to provide technical support to the CPS division for implementing health information management activities, in particular on the design, development and strengthening of health data and metadata management systems using appropriate technologies (with emphasis on European Health for All and Mortality databases) in WHO Europe and Member States, in cooperation with technical units UN and other international agencies/institutions and networks.

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective:

The Division of Country Health Policies and Systems (CPS) assists countries in the Region with the design and implementation of appropriate health policies and systems to strengthen universal health coverage. It works to strengthen data-driven, evidence-informed, contextually tailored health policy development and implementation at national, regional and local levels, taking an inclusive approach across the life course. The Division advocates strengthening of public health leadership, focusing on implementing policies that are people centred, promote health, prevent illness, and address the social and economic determinants of health, while fostering leadership on equity, human rights and gender mainstreaming in health. It focuses on building capacity for health systems innovation to enable the sustainable delivery of high-quality primary health and community services that are effectively linked to hospitals, and mental health, public health and social care services. To do so, CPS supports country efforts to facilitate access so as to leave nobody behind, to improve financial protection, to strengthen the health workforce, to increase access to affordable medicines and technologies, and to promote the uptake and implementation of digital technology.

The Data, Metrics and Analytics (DMA) unit will be responsible for data collection, collation, analysis, presentation and dissemination. It will monitor and measure progress in achieving the SDGs and the triple billion goals whilst developing and implementing a measurement framework for the EPW. It will provide strategic direction, technical assistance and tailored support to countries to strengthen their capacity to be able to generate timely, credible, reliable and actionable data. The priority will be to strengthen health information systems in non-EU countries. The unit will engage with experts and partners both within and outside the Region to harness synergies, reduce data collection burden and fill important data gaps. It will seek to develop new approaches and methodologies including the use of big data to complement traditional methods for timely measurement and monitoring of health status and health system performance. The unit will oversee routine health monitoring activities as well as support technical units in developing new data collection initiatives. It will also be responsible for ensuring timely and effective dissemination of health statistics to serve as a basis for planning and prioritization of activities in countries.

Summary of Assigned Duties:

The purpose of the post is to design, develop and strengthen health data and metadata management systems using appropriate technologies (with emphasis on European Health for All and Mortality databases) in WHO Europe and Member States, in cooperation with technical units UN and other international agencies/institutions and networks. The incumbent is expected to support the development and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation framework for health and health systems within the European Region in line with GPW 13, EPW and the triple billion goals.

Key duties:

The main duties and responsibilities of the incumbent are to assess, develop and roll-out different components of user-friendly integrated health data production systems with flexible interfaces to internet-based tools, both in WHO and Member Countries.

In particular, the duties include:

  1. Managing the European HFA family of databases, including management of updates, using appropriate tools (such as R, MS SQL, and data management system) and ensuring the data and indicators are published in the European integrated data warehouse and visualized and available in associated client applications (such as European Health Information Gateway and European Health Statistics mobile app);
  2. Ensuring that data collections for the Health for All family of databases from Member States, WHO technical units and other international organizations are timely and as complete as possible for the opportune dissemination of indicators and information of acceptable quality;
  3. Improving the Health for All family of databases by integrating the data and metadata, standardising their metadata and data models, maintaining documentation of workflow and data validation, handling and management processes, contributing to the design and operation of a new data management system to replace the current outdated and fragmented one, enabling easier, faster and less resource intensive updates to the data and indicators in the Health for All family of databases;
  4. Conceptualizing, designing and developing guidance and tools for data validation as well as collaborating with national counterparts and data providers from Member States, WHO technical units and other international organizations on methods and approaches to improve the quality of the data in Health for All family of databases;
  5. Coordinating and overseeing tasks related to validation and dissemination of data from the Joint EUROSTAT/OECD/WHO Europe data collections;
  6. Undertaking health situation analysis and monitoring of trends in health status and health systems together with the application of forecasting methodologies to predict progress being made towards the achievement of goals set out in the SGDs, GPW13 and EPW targets.
  7. Performing other duties as assigned.

Competencies:

Teamwork

Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

Communication

Ensuring effective use of resources

Producing Results

Functional Knowledge and Skills:

Demonstrated knowledge of the assessment, planning, development and implementation of projects and programmes on health information systems, including project management skills.

Demonstrated knowledge and use of R statistical package, SQL, and sound health data management practices. Advanced statistical programming and data management skills to customize databases and other tools and automate data processing.

Technical expertise in the application of qualitative and quantitative techniques in data analysis. Knowledge of statistical principles, methods and software packages (incl. statistical modelling) data administration and analysis, preferably with a special focus on biostatistics and demography.

Knowledge of MS Office and related applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

Knowledge of R and related libraries (shiny, etc) or other programming statistical package (such as Stata or SAS).

Ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as helping others do the same.

Ability to work comfortably in a fast-paced environment.

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: University degree (Bachelor’s level) in statistics, demography, health informatics, computer sciences or similar sciences.

Desirable: University degree (Master’s level) in any of the above fields.

Experience:

Essential: At least 5 years of professional experience in the field of statistical data collection and validation in public health, harmonization of data and metadata, indicator production, data analysis and visualization, including experience with and management of data from a variety of data sources and multiple dimensions/disaggregation’s of data.

Desirable: Experience with implementing and using web-based data collection systems. Working with national and international agencies active in the field of health statistics.

Relevant experience within WHO, the United Nations or other international organizations.

Language skills:

Fluency in English required.

Working/intermediate knowledge of either French, Russian or German an asset.

REMUNERATION WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars. The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 59,151 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 3135 per month for the duty station indicated above. Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.

This vacancy is now closed.
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