Country consultants in influenza surveillance

Project: Strengthening influenza sentinel surveillance in the African region of WHO
Duty station: one consultant in each of the following locations: Luanda, Angola; Yaoundé,
Cameroon; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Lusaka, Zambia (based in the respective WHO Country
Office)

The employer
AMP is a non-profit organization with headquarters at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and offices in
Ferney- Voltaire (F), Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Vietnam. AMP’s mission is to promote
preventive medicine and public health by developing expertise and applied research in vaccinology;
offering training in epidemiology and health program management; organizing scientific and technical
meetings; and disseminating information on vaccinology and other health-related fields.
AMP's areas of expertise include technical advice on the development of vaccination strategies and
systems (such as the Expanded Program of Immunization in West Africa), training of health
professionals from Europe and Africa in epidemiology and health management, and vaccinepreventable
disease research (including large and small randomized clinical trials, non-randomized
clinical trials, population-based surveillance, laboratory technologies transfer, sero-epidemiological
studies, carriage studies, economic studies, and vaccination logistics evaluations). AMP has a strong
history establishing and coordinating multi-country projects. We are the lead grantee for several Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) grants: to establish and support vaccine and immunization
advisory committees in low and middle income countries (SIVAC); to establish cholera surveillance in
8 African countries (Africhol); to identify barriers and opportunities for increasing immunization
advocacy in national and district-level governments (ADVIM). We have established meningitis
surveillance in Togo, Burkina Faso, and Mali. We coordinate the EPIVAC Training Program and the
EPIVAC Network, which involve governments and health officers from over 15 African countries.
Lastly, we are increasingly involved in influenza projects with WHO and other funders.
AMP has subcontracted The African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) whose secretariat is
based in Kampala, Uganda to manage some of the activities of this project

Context
Influenza disease burden is to a large part unknown in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to improve the
understanding of the disease in this part of the world the WHO aims to provide additional support to
countries to either set up or strengthen/improve collection, analysis and reporting of influenza
surveillance data through WHO tools.
Project description
AMP has received 12-month grant to support influenza sentinel surveillance in the African region of
WHO. Main objectives of the project are: strengthening of influenza surveillance capacities in selected
sub-Saharan African countries; support collection of epidemiology and virology data; strengthen data
reporting and analysis capacities at a national and international level through the WHO supported
web-based reporting tools, FluNet and FluID.
Main responsibilities of the consultant
The consultant will be based in the WHO Country Office and work in close collaboration with the
national Ministry of Health, WHO and AMP. Under direct supervision of the WHO Country
Representative (WR), and under the technical supervision of the Regional Consultant in charge of the
respective country as well as the Project Team lead in France, the incumbent will be in charge of:
- Assessing the current influenza surveillance situation in the country
- Assisting the MoH and WHO in drafting an influenza surveillance plan for the country
- Developing influenza sentinel site protocols to improve the functioning of exiting sites, or
support the implementation of new sites
- Developing guidelines for data management, data analysis and reporting at national
international level using FluNet and FluID
- Developing country-specific training package on sentinel surveillance based on generic
surveillance training material
- Using the training package, conduct training for sentinel surveillance site personnel and MoH
national surveillance staff
- Assisting the MoH to identify resource needs for surveillance and writing grant proposals to
funding agencies to support the surveillance program
- Liaising regularly by phone and email with the Regional Consultant to report on the progress
of the project and seeking support and assistance
- Preparing monthly progress reports
- Regular monitoring of the progress of sentinel surveillance sites as well as in the respective
MoH and provide ad hoc support
Expected outcomes:
- Report with concrete recommendations for developing influenza surveillance activities
- National influenza plan, influenza sentinel surveillance site protocols
- Country-specific guidelines on data management, analysis and reporting
- Country-specific training package for sentinel surveillance personnel and national staff of MoH
and have national staff trained
- Grant seeking proposals developed
- FluID and FluNet databases used by country staff on a routine basis
- Monthly progress reports
Training requirements: Medical doctor trained in Public health and epidemiology or PhD in
epidemiology
Experience:
Scientific experience: Experience in surveillance of infectious diseases in sub Saharan Africa,
Knowledge of healthcare systems and surveillance systems in the African region.
Desirable: experience in sentinel surveillance.
Technical Experience: Experience in developing guidelines, protocols and training materials.
Excellent writing skills. Experience in providing training to healthcare personnel.
Organizational skills: Good managerial skills. Ability to work in a multicultural environment. Ability to
work independently. Good diplomatic and negotiating skills.
Working experience with WHO would be a plus
Other requirements: Language skills: Consultants should be able to work (speak and write) in
English or Portuguese (Only for Angola and French (For Cameroon)
Availability: Mid-April 2011.
Employment Conditions: The position will be a short-term, full-time consultant position until mid-
December 2011 (with possibility of prolongation).
Fees: Competitive and commensurate with the candidate's training and professional skills and
experience.
How to apply: Interested candidates should send their applications and curriculum vitae by mail to
sec@afenet.net and copy Dr Nicholas Ayebazibwe on nayebazibwe@gmail.com or
nayebazibwe@afenet.net before 31 March, 2011. For more detail call the AFENET Secretariat
on +256417700650.