STOP Program Consultant Positions

Deployment

Consultants will be deployed through the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). They will work countries requesting assistance to:

• Strengthen national immunization surveillance programs
• Support immunization activities
• Respond to disease outbreaks
• Support polio eradication

Basic requirements

STOP consultants are assigned to live and work in countries, supporting ministries of health and local health authorities. All STOP positions share basic requirements (below).

All STOP applicants must be:

• Fluent in English or French
• Extremely motivated and adaptable individuals
• Able to work well both independently and on teams
• Willing to work in challenging or low-resource settings
• Capable of working with people of different cultures

STOP applicants must have a valid personal passport for their before applying to the STOP Program. STOP applicants must also meet employment health standards.

Additional qualifications are desired, but not required:

• Fluency in a second language (Arabic, Portuguese, or Spanish)
• Experience working or studying internationally

Position descriptions

Specific information about each position and additional requirements are outlined below.

STOP Field Epidemiologist

STOP Field Epidemiologists help to close the gap between health services and under- and unvaccinated children. They do this by building local capacity and supporting efforts to strengthen immunization and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) surveillance systems. This work ultimately improves outbreak prevention, detection, and response.

Activities may include:

• Improving surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), measles and rubella, tetanus, and other VPDs
• Supporting the planning, implementation, and monitoring of polio, measles and rubella, and other immunization campaigns to improve vaccination coverage
• Strengthening Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) systems through capacity building of EPI staff, training, and advocacy
• Supporting VPD and other infectious disease outbreak response activities

Public health professionals with extensive experience working within public health systems, specifically in epidemiology, surveillance, and capacity building, are considered.

Qualified applicants will meet all basic requirements. They should also have at least 5 years of relevant experience working in the field of public health and an advanced degree in a relevant field, or 10+ years of experience working in the field of public health.

Relevant experience includes:

• VPD surveillance, including acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), measles and rubella, yellow fever, tetanus, and other VPDs
• Planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating immunization program activities, such as polio or measles and rubella supplemental immunization activities (SIA) and routine immunization activities
• Conducting suspected case investigations, as well as disease outbreak investigations for AFP, measles and rubella, and other VPDs
• Conducting training and capacity building activities for health workers, especially for immunization and surveillance programs

STOP Malaria Field Epidemiologist

STOP Malaria Field Epidemiologists provide support and expertise to countries with malaria elimination goals. They provide technical assistance in surveillance, case investigation, and response activities for malaria.

Activities may include:

• Strengthening malaria surveillance
• Investigating and classifying malaria cases
• Determining causes of transmission and developing appropriate response strategies
• Strengthening systems through capacity building of staff, training, and advocacy

Public health professionals with extensive experience working within public health systems, specifically in malaria, surveillance, and capacity building are considered. Qualified applicants will meet all basic requirements, plus:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in public health surveillance of infectious diseases, with at least 3 years of experience in malaria surveillance or 5 years of experience in malaria control
• An advanced degree in a relevant field, or 10+ years of experience in malaria control and surveillance
• Advanced knowledge of surveillance approaches and/or malaria control strategies

STOP Data Manager

STOP Data Managers help to close the gap between health services and under- and unvaccinated children by building local capacity and supporting efforts to improve the management, quality, and use of immunization and VPD surveillance data for decision making by local country officials.

Activities may include:

• Improving data recording and reporting processes for immunization and surveillance systems
• Improving data quality monitoring, evaluation, and feedback sharing with data sources
• Improving data analysis, interpretation, and use
• Building technical capacity with ministries of health or local health authority staff for data management and use
• Improving data sharing with partners and stakeholders

Data managers with extensive experience working within and supporting health information systems, specifically for immunization and VPD surveillance data, are considered.

Qualified applicants will meet all basic requirements. They should also have at least 5 years of relevant experience working in the field of immunizations and surveillance data management and an advanced degree in a relevant field, or 10+ years of experience working in the field of immunizations and surveillance data management.

Relevant experience includes:

• Data quality improvement
• Data recording, reporting, analysis, use, and monitoring/feedback
• Training others on data management or conducting capacity building activities for improved data quality
• Presenting or using data for evidence-based decision making or behavior/policy change

STOP Social and Behavioral Change Consultant

STOP Social and Behavioral Change Consultants help to close the gap between immunization service delivery and at-risk populations for VPDs, including under- and unvaccinated children and their caregivers. Communication plays a critical role in understanding communities, assessing barriers to vaccinations, and supporting vaccine confidence.

Activities may include:

• Providing technical expertise in conducting community engagement and social mobilization activities to support polio eradication, measles and rubella elimination, and other VPD control efforts
• Implementing communication best practices to help increase the demand for and acceptance of immunizations
• Building technical capacity with ministries of health or local health authority staff by providing training in health education and communication of public health information
• Supporting the national government and local partners to develop and implement immunization policy and programs
• Supporting the development, implementation, management, and monitoring and evaluation of communication plans for the national EPI program
• Supporting crisis and emergency risk communication for outbreak response and other emergencies

Public health professionals with extensive experience working in health communication, social and behavior change, community engagement, and social mobilization are considered.

Qualified applicants will meet all basic requirements. They should also have at least 5 years of relevant experience or an advanced degree, with at least 3 years working in public health communications.

Relevant experience includes:

• Developing and executing strategic communication and behavioral interventions at district, regional, or national levels
• Implementing communication best practices for polio eradication, measles and rubella elimination, routine immunization, and outbreak response
• Developing, implementing, and monitoring and evaluating communication plans and interventions
• Engaging community leaders, stakeholders, and advocates for social support of behavior change for health
• Training others in health communication approaches, supportive supervision, and mentoring
• Media content development, such as photography or videography, and development of information, education, and communication (IEC) materials

In addition to these qualifications, STOP Social and Behavioral Change Consultants should have strong oral and written communication skills.

Eligibility after acceptance to STOP

To be eligible for deployment to the field after acceptance to a STOP Team, consultants must first:

• Obtain a visa for the country where training will be held
• Successfully participate in STOP training
• Receive medical clearance and country clearance for their countries of assignment
• Be up to date on vaccinations

A supervisor evaluation is necessary at the end of each assignment and will help determine whether consultants are eligible for future deployments.

No STOP consultant is guaranteed a position in the field. The STOP Program reserves the right to withdraw your acceptance to the team or terminate your contract at any time (during training or while on assignment).