EMERGENCY – Public Health Specialist – Afghanistan

The Public Health Specialist supports EMERGENCY staff in Afghanistan in making the microplanning and conducting a survey to triangulate data concerning the numbers of target populations that should receive OPV. 

He/She reports to the PHC focal point; Medical Coordinator of LashkarGah Hospital and Global Foundations Office

BACKGROUND AND ORGANISATION OF WORK

EMERGENCY NGO has played an active role in the eradication of poliovirus in Afghanistan through the participation in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in the last years and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. By participating in this initiative and through close collaboration with local authorities, EMERGENCY’s main objective is to facilitate and increase vaccination coverage of polio and routine immunization in the provinces of Panjshir and Helmand. In Panjshir, polio-birth-dose is given to newborns in the organization’s secondary-level Maternity Centre. In Helmand, OPV doses are administered within the routine immunization program to all under 5 children accessing the 5 Primary Health Care Centres (PHCCs) across the province.

Currently EMERGENCY is in the process of restructuring its service delivery in the Helmand province to improve community engagement and vaccination coverage. This process encompasses the following steps:

-expanding its service delivery to include RMNCH services across the 5 PHCC in the province (i.e., antenatal care, postnatal care, family planning).

-strengthening community engagement strategies (i.e., outreach, health promotion) to empower communities to be able to identify their health needs, take action to improve their health and understand the importance of immunizations.

-rethinking its strategies to target hard-to-reach communities in order to improve health outcomes in these subgroups (e.g., vaccination coverage, management of NCDs, safe deliveries)

With regard to vaccination service delivery (i.e., OPV within the routine immunization program), EMERGENCY’s restructuring process has the following objectives: 1) to actualize the microplanning to include strategies targeting hard-to-reach populations (i.e., refusals, people-on-the-move, geographically marginalized communities); 2) to triangulate numbers of target populations (i.e., missed children under 5) with specific methodologies (i.e., surveys); 3) to optimize data analysis (n. of vaccinations, trends).

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

-To develop a new microplanning together with EMERGENCY’s international staff and a local field officer

-To contribute to devising strategies targeting hard-to-reach populations

-To conduct an alternative one-off survey to accurately triangulate population baseline estimates

-To optimize data analysis (n. of vaccinations, trends) and documentation

GUIDELINES, PROTOCOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Further information on the guidelines, protocols and clinical services relevant to the post along with details of the instruments and equipment available will be provided at interview and during the period of preparation for the mission.

The general requirements and conditions apply to all the international staff.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

-University Degree in Medicine or Nursing;

-Postgraduate qualification in Public Health/Global Health topics

-Experience in GIS-based microplanning is a plus

-Strong theoretical and/or practical knowledge of vaccination campaigns, community engagement strategies, microplanning

-Proficient English knowledge

-Good communication skills

REQUIRED AVAILABILITY

6 months overseas stay including a period of leave to be taken at the end of the mission in agreement with the coordinator + 2 months of remote working.