Roster for International Consultants - Public Health Laboratory Assessments

About the Organization

The World Health Organization's mission: to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. Working through offices in more than 150 countries, WHO staff work side by side with governments and other partners to ensure the highest attainable level of health for all people.

Job Description

WHO is therefore proposing to establish a voluntary Public Health Laboratory Recognition Programme for Pathogens of Epidemic and Pandemic Potential to unify capacity-building efforts by national authorities, WHO and partners. The programme will assess designated laboratories against standardized terms of reference covering sustainable diagnostic capacity, quality management, biosafety and biosecurity, public health functions and national laboratory-network coordination. Following a laboratory self-assessment and on-site review, compliant laboratories will receive time-limited WHO recognition, while laboratories with identified gaps will be supported to develop and implement corrective action plans.

In parallel, stronger national capacity is required for the detection and characterization of priority bacterial and fungal pathogens, including antimicrobial resistance. This consultancy will support implementation of the Recognition Programme and assessment and improvement of AMR national reference laboratories. Together, these activities will strengthen the quality, reliability, safety and sustainability of laboratory services for surveillance, preparedness and public health response.

Job Responsibilities

Support the implementation of the Public Health Laboratory Recognition Programme

• Activity 1.1 : Planning, organizing and facilitating regional webinars, country orientation sessions and technical consultations to introduce the programme, explain the recognition standards and assessment methodology, guide laboratory self-assessments, and support countries and laboratories in preparing for participation
• Activity 1.2: Planning and delivering a regional training-of-trainers workshop to establish a cohort of qualified experts capable of supporting laboratory assessments, improvement planning and implementation of the Recognition Programme.
• Activity 1.3: Planning, coordinating and participating in in-country technical missions to support initial laboratory self-assessments using standardized assessment tools, identify priority gaps, and develop laboratory-specific corrective action and quality-improvement plans.
• Strengthen national laboratory capacity for the detection and characterization of priority bacterial and fungal pathogens
• Activity 2.1: Assessing the capacity, functions and operational readiness of antimicrobial resistance national reference laboratories
• Activity 2.2: Facilitate hands-on mentoring and remote technical support to selected national reference laboratories to address priority gaps identified through assessments and improvement plans.
• Activity 2.3: Support development of national AMR laboratory network coordination mechanisms, including referral pathways, specimen transport arrangements, reporting flows and communication between reference laboratories and sentinel sites.
• Activity 2.4: support adaptation of WHO standardized laboratory protocols/SOPs for detection, identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, quality assurance, biosafety, and referral of priority bacterial and fungal pathogens, aligned with national laboratory systems.\

Deliverables

• Regional orientation and consultation package for the Public Health Laboratory Recognition Programme, including agenda, presentations, participant lists and summary reports.
• Training-of-trainers workshop report, including training materials, list of trained assessors, participant evaluation results and recommendations for maintaining a regional assessor pool.
• Completed laboratory self-assessment and on-site assessment reports for selected laboratories, using standardized assessment tools covering diagnostic capacity, AST practices, quality management, biosafety and biosecurity, data management, workforce capacity and laboratory-network functions.
• Laboratory-specific corrective action and quality-improvement plans, including prioritized gaps, timelines, responsible parties and resource needs.
• Standardized SOP package for priority bacterial and fungal pathogen detection and characterization, including AST, quality control, biosafety, isolate referral and data reporting procedures.
• External quality assessment/proficiency testing improvement plan, including participation status, results review and corrective actions for selected laboratories.
• Draft or revised national essential diagnostics list for AMR, including priority tests, equipment, reagents and consumables needed for sustainable implementation.
• Final consultancy report, summarizing activities completed, deliverables produced, country-specific progress, key challenges, recommendations and proposed next steps.

Education Qualification/Required Skills & Experience

• Essential: Minimum university degree in Laboratory medicine, Laboratory sciences, microbiology, pathology, molecular biology, virology, bacteriology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, public health and/or global health.
• Desirable: Advanced degree or training in public health, epidemiology, infectious diseases or microbiology.

Experience

• Essential: Minimum of five years’ relevant experience working in laboratory diagnostics or related work at public health laboratories or clinical laboratories, or research laboratories.

Desirable:

• Experience in planning and conducting training activities.
• Experience in developing country setting in the area of surveillance and response to emerging and/or re-emerging diseases.
• Previous relevant international experience in working for WHO in a developing country context.
• Previous work experience in Asia is an asset.

Skills/Knowledge:

Essential:

• Proven knowledge and skills in Public health laboratory preparedness for infectious hazards including emerging and re-emerging diseases of public health emergencies of international concern, laboratory support for public health response readiness and microbiological risk assessment
• Give technical advice and guidance taking into consideration the views of multiple stakeholders and partners in resource-limited contexts;
• Proven ability to promote consensus, communicate progress and results, and resolve issues in a proactive manner, while ensuring effective work practices andethics.
• Strong managerial, monitoring, evaluation, organizational skills including ability to negotiate with national and international authorities and partners.
• Ability to work flexibly, autonomously and efficiently, in a fast-paced environment, with the ability to adapt to shifting priorities.
• Strong writing skills including for presentations, proposals, concept notes, reports and other documents.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Experience synthesizing information and communicating effectively in a timely manner to broad and diverse audiences.
• Ability to work harmoniously as a member of a team, adapt to diverse

Desirable:

• Sound knowledge of standards, methodology and techniques in public health laboratories, including those in microbiology, molecular biology, virology, bacteriology, and biosafety and biosecurity.
• Knowledge in communicable disease prevention and control, including the concept and principles of surveillance, laboratory confirmation, risk assessment, rapid response and preparedness; knowledge of international public health laboratory systems including quality management systems and external quality assessment schemes.
• Languages and level required (Basic/Intermediate/Expert):
• Essential: Expert knowledge of of English

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