The HIV, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis, including other Sexually Transmitted Infections (HTH) Programme is part of and contributes to the work of the Universal health coverage/Communicable and non-communicable diseases (UHC/UCN) cluster in the WHO African region. The strategic agenda of the cluster is to reduce disease burden in the WHO African Region, by guiding disease control agenda in Africa, and using analytics to inform strategic investments and tailored interventions for disease control. This approach is underpinned by the guiding principles of comprehensive whole of society, people-centered, integrated approaches to disease control. The comprehensive whole of society approaches to disease control involves: (a) coherent implementation of triple response – technical response: implementing diseases specific normative guidance, promoting intervention mixes and deploying medical commodities; health systems response: building capacities of district service delivery systems in disease mapping and stratification, interventions tailoring, and sector/subsector planning; and multi-sectoral response: addressing socio-economic and environmental determinants of diseases through mobilizing non-health sectors, communities and stakeholders; (b) disease control partnership of public and private sectors, health and non-health sectors; and (c) community involvement in targeted high risk communities, focused on managing determinants of diseases, health services demand creation and accountability by local health stewards. The people centered, integrated approaches to disease control involves: (a) integrated guidance on disease control for each health service delivery platform, a move away from stand-alone disease specific guidance; and (b) integrated and efficient disease control investments in strengthening the capacity of appropriate health services delivery platforms through deployment of appropriate technologies and analytics to guide stratification of disease risks across population groups in order to develop and deploy comprehensive packages of interventions appropriate to each targeted population group and health service delivery platform, as well as monitor population access, coverage and impact to leave no one behind.
The specific objectives of the UCN cluster, to which the HTH programme contributes, are to: (i) provide leadership on disease control coordination, partnership and resource mobilization; (ii) contribute to the development of WHO disease control technical products, services and tools including adoption of new technologies and innovations; (iii) support generation and use of strategic information for action and decision making including optimizing investment; and (iv) provide or facilitate provision of technical support in deployment of WHO technical products and services and institutional capacity building, including support to national disease programmes and regulatory authorities.
PURPOSE OF THE POSITION
Filling the position of Team Leader, HIV, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis Programme is a major priority in moving the UCN strategic agenda forward. The incumbent will lead the WHO AFRO response to the multiple epidemics of HTH in the region with a focus on contributing to the attainment of the 2030 SDGs targets for HTH in the region. Specifically, the incumbent will provide transformational leadership in the development and implementation of the UCN/HTH programme. This will include developing appropriate HTH and collaborative initiatives towards the UCN strategic agenda. Further, the incumbent will facilitate coordination for the development and implementation of regional policies, strategies, programmes and activities. These activities will contribute to building and strengthening the capacity of countries to improve access to integrated health services for HIV, TB, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections. This will be achieved in a context of strengthened and resilient health systems, contributing to attaining UHC and other health related SDG targets.The incumbent will lead the HTH Team in promoting a cohesive approach and driving integration of appropriate HIV, TB, Viral Hepatitis and STI interventions along with other communicable and non-communicable diseases interventions, into national health systems of member states. Population sub-groups will be targeted across the life course. S/he will be responsible for initiating and sustaining collaboration with the other UHC/UCN teams and with the UHC/LC, UHC/HP, EPR and ARD Clusters for developing tools and approaches to ensure coordinated and integrated guidance, capacity building and technical support for integrated delivery of HTH services in countries. In keeping with the goal of promoting working across organizational boundaries, the incumbent will engage in cross-cluster collaboration to drive integration of appropriate interventions across disease specific programmes into district health systems using people-centred approaches. S/he will also mobilize partnerships with national and regional institutions, including academia, professional associations, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector; and with international partners and regional technical resource networks for concerted actions and financial resources within countries and in the region.
S/he will have a strong scientific background, with a track record of research published in peer reviewed journals. This will include the ability to network with academic and other institutions across the region. The focus of the position will be of delivering measurable outcomes, through a comprehensive understanding of programmatic and systemic approaches. The incumbent will have the ability to understand and implement monitoring and evaluation metrics and analysis to ensure results-driven performance and outcomes within the programme. S/he will be expected to generate and translate into actions new ideas and initiatives for disease control, elimination or eradication in the WHO African region.
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
The incumbent is expected to contribute towards:
Leadership on disease control coordination, partnerships and resource mobilization
Initiate and lead innovative and enhanced resource mobilization targeting of both traditional and new donors in order to increase the capacity of WHO country offices and countries to deliver results;
Ensure people-centred approaches across the life course to address the priority health problems of different population sub-groups through building and coordinating a competent and committed team of HTH experts in the development and implementation of regional HTH policies, strategies, programmes and strategic initiatives for HTH control in the region. This will be done in in collaboration with other WHO technical clusters, and partners, in an integrated manner in the context of Universal Health Coverage;
Provide leadership and manage the staff under his/her responsibility; ensure their performance, continuous development and engagement, promoting a culture of working across boundaries, while promoting the principles of equity, and value for money, integrity and a respectful workplace in accordance with the Organization's policies, rules, procedures, and values;
Drive the team members’ collaboration with other clusters and programmes to ensure that HTH interventions are integrated in strategies on universal health coverage, primary health care, sexual and reproductive health, and communicable diseases;
Lead regional office HTH strategic and operational planning, monitoring and evaluation of work plans and budgets within the framework of WHO Staff Rules and Regulations, financial rules and AFRO accepted procedures, while promoting integration of similar interventions in the HTH Team;
Conduct high level advocacy and policy dialogue and establish/strengthen partnerships, including with academia, professional associations, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions, the African Union and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) for the harmonization and alignment of actors and resources in the formulation and implementation of national action plans, as an integral part of strengthened and resilient national health systems, in order to improve access to quality essential HTH and MND services at all levels, including paying particular attention to the PHC level;
Lead application of analytics in HTH to drive improved targeting and impact of HTH interventions;
Lead the conceptualization, formulation, implementation and monitoring of bold strategic initiatives on HTH in the WHO African region;
Contribute to the development of annual “Regional Disease Outlook” including country profiles.
Development of WHO disease control technical products, services, and tools
Contribute to discussion on priority HTH Target Product Profiles based on identified country and regional disease control needs;
Support the strengthening of research and innovation that contribute evidence for developing and/or deploying WHO HTH products and services in the region;
Coordinate the development and dissemination of scientific papers on HTH, as well as multiyear reports on HIV, TB, Hepatitis and/or STIs in the WHO African region;
Support evaluation of interventions and tools to inform deployment or enhanced deployment of WHO HTH technical products and tools in the region;
Generation of analytics-driven strategic information for disease control agenda setting and interventions tailoring
Lead monitoring of socio-political and health situations in member states, facilitating political and social analysis for health action in the region;
Support development of capacities for analytics to drive HTH disease control agenda setting and to guide investments; advocate and support use of triangulated data on disease occurrence (incidence and mortality), interventions coverage, health services access, determinants information, to developed tailored national policies and operational responses in member states;
Support mainstreaming of GER in HTH service delivery;
Support surveillance systems strengthening and tracking of biological and other threats using available HTH tools and interventions, and use of the same information for threat containment in member states.
Technical support and institutional capacity building for disease control support
Coordinate implementation of people-centered and integrated approaches to HTH control through development of tools and guidance; advocacy with partners, collaboration with programmes and teams; and capacity building, monitoring and evaluation;
Oversee the development and implementation of regional and country capacity-building policies, strategies and approaches towards the implementation of best practices on all aspects of HTH prevention and treatment scale-up, including improving access to medicines;
Lead dissemination of HTH technical products and tools in the region, advocating for their rapid deployment in member states according to WHO guidance and local contexts;
Facilitate appropriate technical support in the implementation of WHO HTH technical products and services, including guidance on comprehensive, whole of society approaches, as well as people-centered and integrated approaches to HTH and disease control investing;
Oversee the collaborative and proactive support to countries in the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation policies and strategies to facilitate reporting on trends in health systems performance and on progress towards regional and national HTH targets, including promoting the dissemination of lessons learned and good practices;
Contribute to the coordinated investment of HTH and other disease control resources in strengthening health services delivery platforms to deliver optimally for disease control in the region;
Contribute to mapping and prioritizing existing institutions and capabilities in member states with focus on prioritizing institutions for WHO capacity strengthening to provide technical support, under WHO oversight, for HTH and other priority diseases; contribute to managing partnerships and collaborations with the prioritized institutions and strengthening their capacities to provide technical support under WHO oversight;
Lead the strengthening of WHO collaboration with national public health institutes (NPHI) in member states in the region and specialized networks on HTH, with the aim of facilitating coherence and collaboration;
Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education
Essential
Medical degree, with post-graduate training in Public Health, or Epidemiology, or Infectious Diseases.
Desirable
Specialized training in infectious diseases and in management.
Experience
Essential
A minimum of ten (10) years’ progressive experience in developing, designing and implementing public health programmes, including HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, or Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), with a minimum of 5 years inclusive at the international level in Low and/or Middle-Income countries;
Experience in working at sub-national level (district or provinces);
Experience in overseeing implementation, review and updating existing strategies and guidelines and recommending new initiatives;
Experience in resources mobilization and working with variety of partners at international level;
Experience in facilitating coordinated approaches to effective programme management and implementation;
A track record of research, with publications at senior authorship level in academic journals.
Desirable
Work experiences that are diverse, incorporating private sector, NGOs, other UN, or governmental Health related agencies will be an advantage.
Knowledge of national, regional, and global partnerships and networks.
Extensive experience, with a result focuses approach, in prevention and control of diseases. Use of Language Skills: Essential: Excellent knowledge of English and/or French with a good working knowledge of the other. Working knowledge of Portuguese is desirable.Desirable:
Functional Knowledge and Skills
Extensive experience in thought leadership, problem solving approaches, and use of the logical frameworks in health programme development;
Extensive knowledge of policies, strategies and programme interventions related to HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted infections and Tuberculosis;
Mastery and broad knowledge of at least one related discipline and approaches (HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections or Tuberculosis);
Demonstrated expertise in strategic and multisectoral planning; research; performance monitoring, as applied to programmes and reporting; extensive knowledge and skills in use of data and information for decision-making and strategic planning; track record of recognizing and addressing changing conditions;
Working knowledge of WHO rules and procedures, mandates, strategies and action plans (global, regional and country-specific);
Budgeting and financial management; partnership and resource mobilization; communication and people management;
Ability to exercise leadership and to work effectively with colleagues at national and international levels.
