CONTEXT FOR THIS CONSULTANCY
The IPC T&C Hub (https://www.who.int/teams/integrated-health-services/infection-prevention-control) was established within the Integrated Health Services (HIS) department to provide coordination, leadership and comprehensive technical expertise on IPC in health care and to strengthen the support to Member States. The Hub leads networking, advocacy and global campaigning activities to promote IPC policies and best practices and develops evidence-based guidelines, implementation strategies and tools, training resources as well as monitoring tools and systems. In collaboration with other partners and WHO colleagues, the team also directly provides technical expertise and support to countries to strengthen or establish effective IPC programmes and adopt, adapt and implement IPC guidelines and other resources.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, IPC work (Pillar 6 of the Strategic preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP II) including guidance and training development, risk communications and research, is co-led by the Hub team and the IPC team within the WHO Health Emergencies (WHE) division.
The Hub provides IPC technical support to other key WHO programmes such as neonatal and maternal services, AMR in health care and health emergencies. For all these areas of work, the Hub team works across three divisions (UHL/LC, Antimicrobial Resistance and WHO Health Emergencies) through joint work plans and in close collaboration with other teams.
The IPC Hub also provides coordination of the WHO work on sepsis prevention, diagnosis and clinical management (https://www.who.int/health-topics/sepsis/#tab=tab_1) to respond to the Member States recommendations included in the WHA A70.2 sepsis resolution, and assures technical leadership for the work on sepsis epidemiology and prevention. The sepsis coordination group includes representatives from more than 10 departments which contribute to the delivery of the work on sepsis and report to WHA on achievements and progress.
There is a need for technical expertise on clinical, diagnostic and prevention aspects of sepsis and to support coordination of the sepsis work at WHO HQ.
This six-month consultancy will be established by the IPC Hub and the incumbent will work in collaboration with the Clinical Services and Systems unit in IHS and with WHE, as well as with all departments contributing to the work of sepsis.
SUMMARY OF DUTIES:
The focus of the incumbent's work is to provide technical input and coordination for the development of guidelines on clinical management of sepsis and of the sepsis management toolkit. The incumbent will also provide technical expertise on sepsis epidemiology and prevention and other aspects of IPC. Finally the incumbent will support coordination of the sepsis work at WHO HQ through the “sepsis coordination group”.
This will include:
- Contribution to the plans for developing the guidelines on clinical management of sepsis and other documents related to sepsis
- Critical review of the contributions by external groups in the sepsis guidelines and other documents, including systematic literature reviews
- Technical contribution to the guidelines on clinical management of sepsis and other documents related to sepsis
- Update of sepsis web pages
- Organizing internal meetings of the sepsis coordination group and providing meeting minutes
- Communicating and organizing meetings with sepsis stakeholders and experts and providing meeting reports
- Technical contribution to other documents on the prevention of sepsis.
- Performing other duties related to the project as assigned.
EDUCATION
Essential: An advanced level university degree (masters level or above) in Medicine, Medical Sciences or Nursing with specialization in infectious diseases or critical care medicine and documented education in IPC.
Desirable: Postgraduate qualifications in epidemiology and/or IPC.
EXPERIENCE
Essential: A minimum five years of clinical experience working in infectious diseases and/or critical care with expertise/experience in diagnosing and treating sepsis patients and implementing IPC principles and practices
at facility level. This should include experience in countries at different levels of income (high, low and middle-income countries). Demonstrated experience in writing practical, clinical and IPC standard operating procedures, guidelines,
implementation tools as well as scientific articles.
Desirable: Experience at national and international levels.
FUNCTIONAL/TECHNICAL SKILLS
Advanced expertise in infectious diseases and/or critical care, and IPC. This includes technical expertise in evidence-based most appropriate approaches for sepsis diagnosis and most effective sepsis treatments in different settings as well as methods for prevention of sepsis, in particular in health care facilities. Knowledge of the WHO documents and resources related to sepsis epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Knowledge of the WHO IPC guidance, in particular the WHO IPC core components and minimum requirements, IPC programmes assessment and implementation tools, IPC for the prevention of neonatal and maternal sepsis, and recommendations for the prevention of surgical site infections. The incumbent must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to function in a rapidly changing and sometimes high pressure environment, and be comfortable operating within a multicultural team. A practical, hands-on and results oriented approach is also required. Excellent writing skills to enable translation of technical concepts into understandable and useable documents at field level is also essential. At the same time, excellent scientific writing skills are necessary to enable contribution to publications/reports and scientific articles.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Essential: Very high standards in written and spoken English
Desirable: Written and spoken French and/or any other UN languages to a medium-high standard level.
COMPETENCIES:
- *Technical expertise;
- * Producing results;
- *Communication;
- Teamwork
SALARY RATE: 350-450 USD per day for 20 days per month (100% FTE); lower FTE could be discussed.
CONTRACT PERIOD: August 2021-January 2022, working remotely with no requirement to be based in Geneva.