12-332 Emergency Public Health Officer

Job Location:

Job Description:

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility for rapid response to emergencies. International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND
The influx of refugees into South Sudan since the start of 2012 has continued to rise dramatically as conflict and hunger in Sudan’s Blue Nile State drive record numbers across the border into South Sudan. The highest numbers have been recorded in Upper Nile State; latest UNHCR estimates indicate more than 110,000 refugees are in Maban County alone. In the past three weeks, 35,000 refugees have crossed the border via the El-Fuj border point (10 kilometers from the border) after walking for days with little access to food or water. UNHCR estimates 20,000-50,000 more refugees will be crossing the border in June.

The majority of the refugees (2,000 arrivals/per day) arriving from the El-Fuj border point have been in poor physical condition after walking for days with limited access to food or water. They are reported as having had to consume leaves and insects during an average 15-day trek to the border. There have been seven confirmed deaths at the site in the past two weeks, five of which occurred on June 8 due to severe dehydration upon arrival at the camp. UNHCR plans to relocate 2,000 refugees a day from Hofra and Kilometer 18 to Yusuf Batil. By the end of June, Batil is projected to host an additional 30,000.

The relocation of refugees to Batil will swiftly overwhelm the limited existing health and sanitation coverage at the camp. International Medical Corps has therefore been requested to urgently intervene in order to rapidly scale up health and nutrition capacity, including hygiene promotion to cover rapidly increasing needs. The diminishing water levels within all the Maban camps, poor hygiene standards and cross-contamination of water sources after the start of the rainy season have also significantly increased the risk of cholera and other communicable disease outbreaks.

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

Summary

The primary function of the Emergency Public Health Officer is to ensure public health concerns (e.g., communicable diseases, diseases surveillance, and outbreak response) are integrated into emergency response activities and to lead coordination and implementation of these activities.

Program Planning and Implementation
• Lead/participate in a coordinated rapid assessment to better understand communicable disease risks and to map treatment sites and surveillance activities;
• Train primary health care staff and camp CHWs in active case finding and reporting
• Monitor and analyze data to flag possible outbreaks during the emergency phase
• Work with medical team and special advisors such as WASH/EPI to identify possible outbreak risks and plan risk mitigation
• Work with Medical Director and Emergency Team Leader to develop response to outbreaks of communicable diseases during the emergency phase;
• Initiate planning for longer-term communicable disease prevention activities, including outbreak response and containment and prevention education, as emergency stabilizes;
• Coordinate with all relevant actors and actively participate in relevant working groups or sub-cluster (where active);
• Work with partners and community members to develop appropriate prevention, surveillance and response activities ;
• Coordinate with other sectors and participate in additional cluster working groups to ensure integration of communicable disease concerns into various services.

• Training and Capacity Building
Organize and lead trainings for partner organizations working in various sectors
Organize and lead trainings for key groups of first responders
• Organize and co-facilitate trainings for medical practitioners on data collection/analysis and planning an outbreak response
Identify and train community-based volunteers for prevention activities
Build capacity of local organizations involved in prevention and/or surveillance activities

Human Resources Management
• Assist in the selection, training and support of the Emergency program staff
• Develop training modules as adapted to local capacities for emergency response and surveillance