Technical Officer

Description Of Duties

Provide technical guidance for coordination and planning of Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) planning in endemic and outbreak-affected countries as well as SIA activities to reduce vulnerability in countries at high risk of outbreaks.
Plan and prioritize allocation of vaccine supplies, funding, and human resources based on thorough understanding of risks and poliovirus situation and in close coordination with HQ, countries and partners.
Provide effective response to any importation of wild poliovirus or outbreak of circulating vaccine derived poliovirus in previously polio-free areas through planning, implementation, and coordination with GPEI
partners for response to outbreaks in accordance with global guidelines.
Conduct and administer three-and six-month assessments of status of outbreaks, effectiveness of response
and the likelihood of continuing transmission.
Monitor progress and identify risks in countries or sub-regions assigned. Identify constraints to polio
eradication in priority countries and areas and support the development of plans of action to overcome
those constraints.
Promote activities to enhance Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance, including rapid surveillance assessments, development of action plans to improve surveillance, evaluation of the impactof these plans,
and training/orientation of national and sub-national staff.
Develop guidelines and other tools that provide evidence and advice on the best practice strategies for
interrupting poliovirus transmission and conducting AFP surveillance.
Promote and monitor in-depth analysis of polio priority areas to understand the root causes for continuing poliovirus transmission, the proposed strategies to address the problems, and the progress of the
programme in implementing these strategies.
Identify training needs, evaluate and document outbreak response activities to ensure that all lessons
learned are effectively incorporated into current best practices.
Develop and manage approaches in assigned countries that can achieve polio eradication while
contributing to strengthening routine immunization systems.