Health Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care. UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority. UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities. UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Context

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. Equity accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations. After 5 years of the influx in August 2017, the Rohingya refugees’ response has shifted to protracted crisis. The UNICEF Humanitarian Health Strategy (Response to the Rohingya Crisis) is not only to reduce the risk of communicable disease outbreaks and their consequences among refugees and host communities, and to improve access to lifesaving interventions through the strengthening of systems to provide comprehensive primary and secondary health services for crisis affected population for both refugees and host communities, using government systems where possible. The quality service provided must be equitable and leave no one behind. This includes routine immunization activities in the camps to prevent and control vaccine preventable disease outbreaks; providing lifesaving and comprehensive primary health care services with special focus on newborn and Integrated Management on Childhood Illness and referral services to provide access of Rohingya babies to specialized neonatal care; preparedness and response to communicable disease outbreaks (cholera/acute watery diarrhoea, measles, diphtheria etc); reproductive health; gender-based violence medical services; reporting and monitoring through the Health Management and Information System (HMIS); and monsoon/cyclone preparedness and response. The Health Officer will work to ensure that these activities are undertaken in adherence to agreed minimum standards, and to link the reality on the ground to programme and policy development for UNICEF, its implementing partners and government counterparts. The Health Officer will also provide support to the host communities through strengthening the health systems, including providing technical support to the Upazilas in Cox's Bazar, regular monitoring to maintain the quality and adherence to the agreed standards, and coordinate with the implementing partners on the ground.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Health Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Health Officer will: • Provide capacity building and supportive supervision of service providers at health posts, primary health centres, diarrhea treatment centres, field hospitals, Upazilla health complexes, union health and family welfare centres and community clinics with particular attention to adherence to agreed guidelines and standards • Monitor routine immunization sessions and ensure all antigens given as per the schedule, with safe injections and adverse event following immunization monitoring is established as per guidelines. Support vaccination campaigns/supplementary immunization activities as required. • Ensure medicines and renewables are managed as per standards (First Expired, First Out) • Capacity building and monitoring partners in the roll out of early essential newborn care and Integrated Management on Childhood Illness in the camps and host communities • Support the implementation of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response in the camps, and part of the MPDSR committee • Capacity building of health managers and statisticians of the PHCs on quality, completeness, timeliness of MIS data and use of these data for local level planning, monthly review meetings and tracking progress on MNCAH/EPI. • Support data quality improvement through data triangulation, data audit, analysis and use of data in review meetings and evidence-based planning and budgeting for MNCAH/EPI • In case of floods and/cyclone, participate in organizing mobile teams and other relief interventions as needed • Support the supervision and/or enumeration of key surveys, assessments, and studies on the situation of children in the camps, and contribute to the development of analysis and results • Provide inputs to the Programmatic Visit Draft contributions to donor reports and proposals • Responsible for coordination with other health team member in Cox’s Bazar for the field mission • Regular field monitoring report as part of AAP • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor. Results/expected outputs: • As an active UNICEF team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNICEF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: o Quality of health services improved in UNICEF-supported facilities and through outreach and campaigns (as required) in camps and host communities. o Medical treatment guidelines followed by 100% medical and paramedical staff, and no medicines expire (up to date stock of essential medicines) o All health facilities supported by UNICEF report in a timely manner to DHIS2 o Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Review rolled out across UNICEF-supported facilities. • Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment • A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed