Mission and objectives

The World Health Organization serves as the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system. WHO seeks to promote health, ensure everyone can attain the highest level of health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable through partnerships, people and countries.

Context

The current assignment is proposed by the Health emergency information and risk assessment Unit (HIM) of the WHE Programme. HIM provides authoritative information for public health decision-making in emergencies, with responsibility for identifying new public health events, assessing risks to public health, conducting epidemiological surveillance and field investigations, monitoring public health interventions, and communicating public health information to technical partners: event-based surveillance is a core activity, as it enables the WHE Programme to identify new events that may have adverse public health impacts; assessing the public health risks of new events is important for the initiation of preparedness and response measures; epidemiological surveillance and investigation, as well as monitoring of public health interventions, is critical for effective management of the health consequences of new and ongoing emergencies; being able to communicate technical information to partners within the emergencies and public health community is needed so that coordination of joint interventions and capacities can be optimized. HIM works closely with the other units in the WHE Programme, WHO disease-specific departments, WHO departments providing support to national health systems, WHO country offices, and partner organizations and non-governmental organizations that contribute to the collection of health information or to the response to public health events. The Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment (HIM) Unit is responsible for identifying new public health events, assessing risks to public health, conducting epidemiological surveillance and field investigations, monitoring public health interventions, and communicating public health information to technical partners. Under the HIM Unit is the Public Health Intelligence (PHI) Team, which is at the forefront of rapidly identifying emerging public health threats, assessing the risks and communicating them. This enables timely response and strategies to address critical needs and avoid further morbidity and mortality. The key to deliver this crucial task is to identify signals within 24 hours, verify, risk assess and communicate and manage these acute public health events. The team systematically uses the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Source (EIOS) and social media platforms in collecting relevant information that may have potential to international public health. The team works 24/7 and produces results with a very tight deadline. Technical support is needed to scale up the collection of data from different sources, use these during the triage and communicate the results. This will also involve uploading to the already developed platform real-time to be used further in developing information products, and risk assessments.

Task Description

We are looking for [two] Online Volunteers who will support us with the daily task of the Public Health Intelligence (PHI) team at the WHO Regional Office. The Online Volunteers are asked to: – Identify and screen for data sources – Conduct data collection using Public Health Intelligence (PHI) defined methodology and tools from selected sources – Upload to the team’s Online Signal Module (OSM) – Participate in the triage, morning briefs and Emergency Operation Center (EOC) meetings Outputs: 1. daily signals captured and uploaded 2. reporting during triage 3. attendance to Morning brief, EOC This assignment allows Online Volunteers to connect with the World Health Emergencies (WHE) and other Departments and provides an opportunity to develop and hone their skills on providing timely information for appropriate response.

Competencies and values

Living conditions and remarks

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements