Statistician/Data Analyst

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO AFRO’s EPR Cluster is to support member states i) to prepare for and prevent disease outbreaks and health emergencies, ii) to promptly detect, speedily report, and confirm outbreaks and iii) to strengthen and sustain their capacity to promptly respond to and recover from the negative effects of outbreaks and health emergencies. Within the EPR Cluster, the overall mandate of the Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment (HIR) unit is to provide risk management support, develop public health intelligence and strengthen epidemiological surveillance and information systems, in member states to rapidly mitigate the impact of public health crises. The HIR unit leads the implementation of the “Transforming African Surveillance Systems” (TASS) flagship program which is structured around five key pillars: Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) implementation, data and information management, workforce development, policy dialogue & advocacy and predictable and sustainable financing.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The primary objective of this position is to support statistical data analysis and data use for public health surveillance and other emergency preparedness and response data, to optimize the detection of outbreaks and other emergencies.

Specifically, the Statistician/Data Analyst: (i) supports the processing, integration and triangulation of surveillance data from indicator based surveillance/IDSR, Event-Based surveillance, Community based surveillance, Lab based surveillance and genomic surveillance, and One health surveillance, managed at the Regional Office through the members states; (ii) contributes to the monitoring and evaluation of outbreak and emergency response information received at the Regional Office; (iii) undertakes data validation and regular analysis of data received; and (iv) manages and updates databases maintained in the regional web systems and portals; (v) contributes to IDSR weekly threshold and alerts reviews and weekly feedback to member states.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Under the general supervision of the HIR programme Area Manger and the direct supervision of the hub coordinator, the Statistician/Data Analyst will perform the following roles and responsibilities:

1. Undertake validation of data received from routine epidemiological surveillance of diseases with epidemic potential, public health intelligence activities, risk assessments and response operations;

2. Establish a statistical analysis plan and sampling method to perform adequate statistical analysis using epidemiological and statistical analysis software;

3. Perform regular data analyses of surveillance data, exploring key indicators and specific pathogens and events;

4. Perform disease specific in-depth data analysis and hotspot analysis and mapping, space-time analysis (e.g cholera, yellow fewer, …) based on the overall outbreak trends and patterns;

5. Triangulate various sources of data including IDSR data, other epidemiological surveillance data, genomic surveillance data, outbreak data, and public health intelligence and Risk assessment data;

6. Develop automated tools to extract information from the large volumes of outbreak datasets, public health intelligence generated data and risk assessment data collected;

7. Contribute to in-depth analysis and visualization, exploratory analysis, patterns extraction (machine leaning, data mining) and modeling of historical outbreak data, DVA, and IDSR datasets;

8. Develop in close collaboration with epidemiologists and software developers, guidance on critical data analysis elements for IDSR and other sources of data for use in weekly bulletins and other documents;

9. Provide regular feedback to countries on accuracy, validity and quality of data they submit;

10. Establish high standards of data quality and ensure proper management of data and information received;

11. Identify data and information management gaps and needs at the country and regional levels, and contribute to strengthening country capacity in various aspects of data and information management;

12. Perform other related duties as assigned, including replacing and back stopping for others as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: A first level university degree in statistics, epidemiology, biostatistics or any other scientific degree or university degree in a related discipline with a strong data and information management component.

Desirable: A Master's degree in Statistics, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Data Science, Big Data.

Experience

Essential: At least five (05) years of experience in data management, statistics, as well as database design and development.

Functional Knowledge and Skills

Experience in surveillance, field epidemiology, emerging diseases and outbreak response in an international context. Ability to interact in a multi-disciplinary and cross-cutting environment involving technical, cultural and political elements. Sound analytical and organizational skills. Willingness to deploy at short notice in support of international emergency health interventions. Excellent presentation and communication skills, with emphasis on writing skills. Proven ability to work and produce results under pressure in critical situations. Tact, diplomacy and courtesy. Other technical skills required include:

• Proven knowledge and experience in sampling techniques, data management and analysis.
• A thorough understanding of the design, development, and implementation of databases, and the architecture of data-driven applications.
• Ability to design and manage databases in software commonly used in field epidemiology (EpiInfo, EpiData, ODK, Microsoft Access, SPSS, STATA, SAS, R).
• Strong R and Shiny experience and ability to use business intelligence tools such as PowerBI
• Programming skills (Python, Java Scripts, etc.)
• Strong analytical skills; the ability to analyze raw data, draw conclusions, and understand how to best visualize data.
• Experience using GIS tools (ArcGIS, QGIS,…)
• Excellent organizational and analytical skills combined with an ability to multi-task and produce accurate results while working under pressure;
• Ability to synthesize information in a clear and concise manner;
• Knowledge of public health and epidemiology is an asset.

WHO Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Promoting innovation and organizational learning
• Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

Use of Language Skills

Essential:Expert knowledge of French

Desirable:Intermediate knowledge of English

The above language requirements are interchangeable.

REMUNERATION

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at XOF 29,672,000 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an 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.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.
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• verification of final candidates.
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