Epidemiologist

Introduction about MSF:

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / حدود بلا أطباء is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people in 70 countries who are affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF offers assistance to people based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation and our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality.

We offer basic healthcare, perform surgery, fight epidemics, rehabilitate and run hospitals and clinics, carry out vaccination campaigns, operate nutrition centers, and provide mental healthcare. Our activities include the treatment of injuries and disease, maternal care and the provision of humanitarian aid. Where necessary, we set up sanitation systems, supply safe drinking water, and distribute relief to assist survival.

Main Objective of the position:

Assessing, implementing and maintaining the epidemiological surveillance systems/monitoring (if needed) according to MSF protocols, standards and procedures in order to contribute to appropriate evidence-based decision making using well managed health data in outbreak and emergency MSF programmes

Accountabilities:

• Carrying out key epidemiological activities in outbreak investigation (description including time, place, people with emphasis on mapping when it is needed) and advising on the operational response
• Implementing and maintaining a surveillance system to monitor epidemiological trends of relevant outbreak-prone diseases. Guiding activities of medical staff for surveillance and/or active case finding, including ensuring understanding of the need for consistent case definitions and data recording (briefing of all new staff)
• Monitoring and Implementing initial Assessment (for emergency situation), rapid health assessments and (baseline or follow-up) surveys. Where standard protocols are not available or appropriate, developing a protocol seeking extensive feedback and pilot testing of tools to ensure the objectives will be met robustly with support of regional epidemiologist
• Preparing and adapting routine documentation (survey forms, training materials, letters of request/notification, locally appropriate consent forms etc.) with support of HQ epidemiologist. Preparing an appropriate sampling frame and sample selection guidelines with support of HQ epidemiologist
• Planning and supervising the associated HR processes of the staff under his/her responsibility (recruitment, training/induction, evaluation, potential detection, development and communication) and ensuring that staff exhibits required skills after training and pilot test
• Managing data systems and ensuring accurate, high quality databases; analyzing results and preparing regular written reports on progress and findings for medical coordinator/HQ and when appropriate to external collaborators/networks (MoH, other NGOs, etc.)
• Providing training sessions to medical teams on relevant aspects of epidemiology to enhance team response capacity

MSF Context Specific Accountabilities:

• Develop competencies among managers of the Medical Department on DHIS2 platform of data management
• Support the projects in monitoring and evaluation of medical activities through following up medical indicators specified in the logframe for the operational year
• Together with the Data analyst, provide support on the simplification of the data collection and reporting system
• Active contribution for Emergency preparedness ( EPREP) and response at project level
• Leading the Medical Department for reports generation, modification of the reports, analysis – monthly SITREPS, quarterly medical reports and Typology Medical Annual Report
• Prospects on detecting gaps of knowledge and capacity to run operational reseach activities

Requirements:

Education:  MS Epidemiology and/ or Masters in Public Health or related area

Experience:

• Experience in field epidemiology (required)
• NGO experience (desirable)

Competence:          

• Good communication skils
• Knowledge and experience on use of statistical software (R, Stata,Epi info, ENA…)
• DHIS2
• Power BI ( is an asset)

English : 

• English
• Arabic

Application process:

Send your updated CV and Cover Letter in English and a copy of your university degree to: medicalsupport-recruitment@msf.org

Please clearly indicate your name followed by “Epidemiologist” in the subject line of the email. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

DEADLINE: Completed applications must be received by the 26/03/2023.