Scientific Writer, International Consultant

Contractual Arrangement : External consultant
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days) : ‎8 months
Job Posting : Mar ‎22, ‎2023, ‎8:10:‎41 AM
Closing Date : Mar ‎29, ‎2023, ‎4:59:‎00 PM
Primary Location : Egypt-Cairo
Organization : EM/HIM Health Emergency Information & Risk Assessment
Schedule : Full-time

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that the deadline for receipt of
applications indicated above reflects your personal device's system settings.

..

• Purpose of consultancy
  The main objective of this consultancy is to provide advice to strengthen the
  communication of acute public health events and emergencies, including
  COVID-‎19, and partner visibility. In addition, the consultant will also be
  requested to provide support to the HIM staff on epidemiological analysis,
  including the use of R program for a high-quality information and
  communication products.


• Background

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme is to build the capacity of
Member States to manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities
are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to
contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected
populations.
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. In addition, the HIM unit acts as the Regional IHR Contact
Point. This involves communicating with the IHR National Focal Points (IHR
NFPs) and capacitating them to produce different IHR communication products
(Event Information Site (EIS) posts, and Disease Outbreak News (DON)).

A core mandate of the HIM unit is to communicate technical information to WHO,
to WHO partners, and to the public to support the generation of public health
relevant information to provide timely actionable insights and improve
decision-making to prepare for, avert, and respond to public health threats.
This is meant to empower decision makers, public health professionals, and
civil society to make informed public health decisions.
To ensure the production of communication and information products that meets
the highest attainable standards of WHO, a scientific writer is required to
provide technical advice to ensure that technical products are created
scientifically sound with utmost quality.

• Work to be performed*
  Output ‎1: Develop HIM communication plan
  Deliverable1.‎1: Take stock of all the information and communication products
  in the Unit
  Deliverable ‎1.2: Create a network of editors, graphic designers, website
  developers, translators
  Deliverable ‎1.3: Discuss with the different teams in the Unit the specific
  areas of work and projects and prepare appropriate products, themes and
  scenarios
  Deliverable ‎1.4: Expand the generated knowledge of HIM activities to the
  scientific community through developing scientific papers for publication
  Output ‎2: Provide support to partner visibility
  Deliverable ‎2.1: Develop the HIM website page
  Deliverable ‎2.2: Prepare the list of requirements in publicly disseminating
  information and communication products
  Deliverable ‎2.3: Explore means to raise partner visibility and build a
  positive image for the Unit during technical work - workshops, events,
  seminars, guidelines, protocols
  Deliverable ‎2.4: Support the collection of success stories that will showcase
  the positive impact of their respective work and entice WHO country offices,
  Ministry of Health, partners and donors to collaborate and invest
  Output ‎3: Provide support to COVID-‎19 and other outbreaks*
  Deliverable ‎3.1: Draft of EOC slides
  Deliverable ‎3.2: For the duration of the consultancy, conduct editing and
  proof reading of information to produce quality information products related
  to COVID-‎19 and multi-disease outbreak IMST
  Deliverable ‎3.3: Support the finalization of HIM dashboards and ensure that
  the content is epidemiologically sound

Output ‎4. Support HIM on trainings on epidemiology
Deliverable ‎4.1: Design training package on R program and making high quality
epidemiological presentations

• Qualifications, experience, skills and languages
  Educational Qualifications:
  Essential: Minimum first university degree for lower end of range, an advanced
  university degree for mid and high end of range in Medicine, Public Health,
  Epidemiology or related field

Experience:
* Essential:
* ‎5 to ‎10 years of relevant work experience in medical and scientific publication including peer reviews, drafting statements, guidelines, and technical reports
* Proven track record for professional delivery of high-quality products
* Experience in different medical and scientific areas
* Experience in disease surveillance, including maintaining databases and data analysis using different statistical programs
* Desirable:
Experience in working in government, UN or health emergency settings

Skills/Technical skills and knowledge:
* Excellent technical writing skills with focus on epidemiological content
* Good communication and interpersonal skills
* Ability to work in a multicultural team and maintain effective working relationships with recognized experts and stakeholders
* Strong commitment and ability to deliver work on time under tight deadlines
* Strong methodological and analytical skills, with the ability to conduct research, identify and analyze literature relevant to the programme area
* Good planning and organizational skills, attention to detail and the ability to multi-task and work under pressure
* Strong IT skills: Word, Excel, presentation software, databases, and web navigators

Languages and level required:
* Essential: Expert knowledge of English
* Desirable: French or Arabic

• Location
  Cairo, Egypt


• 
  

  Planned timelines (Dates are subject to confirmation)
  The scope of work will be undertaken from ‎1 May until ‎1 December ‎2023.

  
  


• 
  

  Medical clearance
  The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of
  fitness for work.

  
  


• 
  

  Travel
  No travel expected.

  
  

Additional Information
* This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
* Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
* A written test may be used as a form of screening.
* If your candidature is retained for 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.
* For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
* WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
* WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
* Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
* WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
* WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.