Associate Public Health Officer

Description (Public)

The Associate Public Health Officer is a member of a multidisciplinary team and contributes to ensuring that UNHCR’s public health programmes meet minimum UNHCR and global health standards in order to minimise avoidable morbidity and mortality among forcibly displaced and stateless persons and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Public health programmes include primary health care, secondary health care, sexual and reproductive health (including HIV), nutrition, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).

The incumbent provides effective and timely technical guidance and support to partners for UNHCR’s responses in public health and monitors the response and provides technical guidance to management in the absence of a more senior public health staff.

S/he supports the developing, implementing and overseeing health strategies, including in the inter-agency context. S/he advances the concepts found in UNHCR’s Global Public Health Strategy as well as the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and applies a humanitarian-development nexus lens to UNHCR public health programming and the mainstreaming/inclusion of refugees into national health programmes, advocacy for refugees’ inclusion into national universal health coverage plans including health insurance and other social protection schemes.

The Associate Public Health Officer is usually supervised by a more senior public health staff or in the absence thereof, by operations/programmes staff.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties, Roles and Responsibilities

Provide support and recommendations on the implementation of public health programmes in a multi-sectoral and coordinated manner in cooperation with government, UN agencies, NGOs, and other humanitarian and development partners with due consideration to the approaches outlined in the Global Compact on Refugees, health-related pledges linked to the Global Refugee Forum and in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG3.
Support a strategic approach to public health towards greater inclusion and access of refugees to national health systems including social health protection as applicable.
Participate in relevant coordination and collaboration structures.
Support robust and timely emergency responses to new refugee influxes and disease outbreaks with a focus on inclusion and access to national health systems from the onset of an emergency.
Participate in relevant assessment and identification of needs, recognise and support the contributions of governments and other actors so as to align with and support national health system as much as possible.
Support the work with stakeholders, including Ministries of Health, UN agencies, NGOs, development actors and academic institutions in the development of public health response plans including multi-year, multi-partner solutions strategies and funding appeals such as regional refugee response plans or other humanitarian appeals.
Work closely with programme and other units as applicable in programme planning and monitoring as well as the review and analysis of relevant project proposals and budgetary submissions presented by UNHCR partners within the context of the UNHCR programming cycle and standards.
Support intersectoral collaboration throughout all stages of programme cycle between public health, and other sectoral areas to promote synergies and maximise impact.
Assist with the implementation of relevant UNHCR Health Information System suite of tools and surveys to support in analysis, interpretation, reporting and use of public health data as well as linkage/integration with national data systems including disaggregation by nationality.
Support capacity strengthening of UNHCR and its implementing partners to ensure the technical integrity of public health programmes in a coordinated, multi-sectoral way.
Engage in relevant partnership fora, including in line with UNHCR’s role as a UNAIDS co-sponsor of the Joint Programme on AIDS and co-lead with WFP of the Division of Labour area of HIV in humanitarian settings.
Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making is risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
Perform other related duties as required.

For positions in country operations

Support public health emergency preparedness and response planning and prepare UNHCR’s lead role in response to new emergencies.
Support, in close co-ordination with other humanitarian actors, the technical integrity of health care services and that they are based on Ministry of Health, UNHCR and/or internationally recognized and most up-to-date standards and policies.
Support partners and work with supply and programme for efficient procurement of medicines, supplies, equipment according to UNHCR guidelines.
Support ensuring community participation in design and implementation of programmes, fostering ownership and empowerment, ensuring inclusion of vulnerable groups, establishing two-way communication and building on local capacities and resources.
Support compliance with, and integrity of, all Public Health Administrative Instruction/ standard operating procedures in conjunction with Project Control and Programme staff and in line with delegated authorities.
For positions in regional bureaux
Support the coordination of public health programmes across the regional bureau and with country operations including assimilation and documentation of better practice/lessons learnt for dissemination.
Provide sound technical advice and support (including missions) to country operations, in all aspects of public health service delivery, including in emergencies and in line with UNHCR’s policy and guidance.
Support assessment, analysis of public health data and provision of relevant support on the technical quality of public health programming in the operations.
Review and provide inputs for public health strategies, medicine management and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the operations and coordinate the review and clearance with HQ.

For positions in headquarters

Collate information that supports the development of organisation-wide guidance, policies, positioning, and tools, including policy documents, technical guidance, evaluations, lessons learnt, communication and visibility materials, reports, and synthesis.
Support the provision of technical advice and support (including missions as applicable) to bureaux and country operations in pursue of greater inclusion and access to national health services.
Assist in technical support for the implementation of public health programs to regional bureaux and operations.
Support public health-related knowledge management, training and learning as well as sharing analytical products and tools with bureaux and country operations to inform policies, programmes and opportunities for inclusion into national public health systems.
Assimilate and produce better practice/lessons learnt/academic articles for dissemination.
Support effective collaborative approaches across the team and in between divisions and bureaux.

Qualifications, Education and Competencies

For P2/NOB – 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education: Medicine, Medical Science, Medical Doctor, Nursing, Public Health, Epidemiology or other relevant field.
Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Experience in public health programming as well as understanding of health systems and health system building blocks.
Experience with data collection and analysis.
Experience in working with internal and external stakeholders to achieve common public health objectives and in position(s) where the ability to draft clear, concise documentation was essential.

Desirable

Experience in public health emergency preparedness and response.
Experience in humanitarian settings.
Experience with health information systems.
Experience with the provision of quality-assured medicines and medical supplies.

Functional Skills

PM-Project monitoring and evaluation
PH-Public Health Epidemiology
MD-HIV/AIDS situation management
MD-Reproductive Health
PH-Community Health – Health Data Collection/Analysis/Interpretation
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

Competency Requirements

All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below.

Core Competencies