Vaccines Initiative Officer - World Health Organization

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

Immunization is one of the key priority areas for the WHO Country Office for Ghana, the Ghana Health Service, and the Ministry of Health. WHO continues its technical support to the government at national and sub-national levels to reach the goals of the EPI Programme as outlined in the comprehensive Multi-Year Plan (cMYP) 2020-2024 and the Health Sector Medium Term Development Plan 2022-2025.

The overarching goal is to support the Ministry of Health, through the various agencies and levels, and relevant institutions in strengthening the capacities to build an investment case to support decision-making for new vaccines in collaboration with other partners and stakeholders.

It is also to assess the impact of immunization interventions for the reduction of morbidity, mortality and disability resulting from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), using a comprehensive life-course approach. This aligns with the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA 2030) and the Gavi Alliance Strategy 2021-2025 (Gavi 5.0) of improving equity and increasing access to vaccines.

There are increasing need to advise national immunization policy and programming as a mid-income country to innovate and prioritize high-impact interventions in the context of transitioning from external resources. There is the need for sustained quality technical assistance by WHO to the MOH, GHS and partners.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The incumbent will have the following assigned responsibilities/duties:

1. Routine Immunization

• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other partners to assess performance and help formulate required action/interventions to ensure improvement
• Conduct and update the situation analysis for the development, design and management of immunization related programmes
• Support the application and implementation of accelerated diseases control activities towards the achievement of eradication (polio), elimination (measles & rubella) and control of vaccine preventable diseases

2. COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery

• Provide technical support and day to day coordination and collaboration with the EPI Programme, partners and other stakeholders on COVID-19 vaccination with focus on vaccination among most disadvantaged populations and high risks communities
• Participate in monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, including field site visits, identifying issues, solutions and priority actions with stakeholders. This includes technical support for the development and implementation of digital tools and strategies for real-time monitoring.
• Provide technical support related to data management, analysis, monitoring, evaluation and reporting for COVID-19 vaccination
• Support and facilitate relevant trainings, orientation, workshops to build capacity of health workers, community members, partners on COVID-19 vaccination, including microplanning, community engagement outreach and monitoring.
• Support and participate in communications and visibility, collecting stories from the field, including human interest stories.
• Monitor COVID-19 vaccine registration, reception and track expiry.
• Support safety monitoring of COVID-19 vaccines.

3. New Vaccine Introduction

• Support implementation of studies to establish local level data and evidence on disease burden and other data including cost-effectiveness analysis to support new vaccine introduction
• Support the country to put together the country’s application documents to Gavi or any other supporting organization
• Provide technical support for the introduction of new vaccines including development of introductory guidelines, capacity building, deployment monitoring, post-introduction evaluation etc

4. Impact studies on vaccines on the National Immunization Schedule

• Provide technical support to the EPI Programme to continue implementation of the malaria vaccine pilot including scale-up to other districts
• Support impact studies on new vaccines including vaccines for rotavirus diarrhoea and pneumonia
• Support implementation of studies to monitor in the impact of rubella-containing vaccines on congenital rubella syndrome in Ghana

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Identify, document and share lessons learned/best practices for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of stakeholders.

6. Advocacy, networking, and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with development partners, research institutions, academia and sub-national stakeholders through sharing of information and knowledge to enhance programme implementation and build the capacity of stakeholders
• Participate in the EPI coordination meetings to collaborate with government and other partners on operational planning to integrate and harmonize WHO’s mission and strategies.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential:

• Advanced university degree in Medicine, Public Health, Epidemiology, or Health Related Sciences

Desirable:

• Diploma or Certificate in Vaccinology, Immunisation systems or related fields

Experience

Essential:

• At least five (5) years experience at the national and/or international level in the implementation of immunisation programmes. A previous working experience in low and middle-income countries will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated professional experience working at the country level providing technical advice and services to national counterparts, Ministry of Health, and other external partners on planning, monitoring and evaluation of immunisation programmes including new vaccine introduction.
• Relevant experience in using data for decision making and strong data management skills
• Experience in programme management and working with diverse teams

Desirable:

• Relevant work experience with WHO and/or UN agencies, health cluster partners; experience working in relevant nongovernmental or humanitarian organizations.
• Demonstrable experience in management of Immunization system and large-scale vaccination campaign.
• Experience is applying, introducing, and evaluating new vaccine introduction, including coordination of vaccine effectiveness studies
• Experience working with National Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and with WHO will be an asset

Skills

• Strong knowledge of the principles and practices of planning, implementation, supervision, and monitoring of immunization services including large-scale vaccination program in response to vaccine preventable disease (VPD) outbreak
• Proven experience in providing capacity building on the use of immunisation data for decision making
• Presentation skills and competencies in communication
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to solve and explain technical issues and take part in training activities with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner.
• Knowledge of WHO practices and procedures an advantage.