Background

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies and the Monitoring/Evaluation Frameworks for International Health, South Sudan conducted its second Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of its International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities from September 16–20, 2024, using the WHO JEE 3.0 tool. This JEE follows the first edition that was conducted in 2017, which led to the development of the maiden National Action Plans for Health Security (NAPHS) 2020-2024. In a country that is increasingly vulnerable due to unending conflicts, protracted humanitarian crises and multiple emerging and re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks, the JEE scores, after 7 years, did not show significant progress towards the desired levels. In turn, the review of the implementation status of the first edition of the NAPHS is yet to be conducted to feed into the development of the second edition, effective January 2025.

South Sudan developed the first NAPHS in 2019 (2020-2024) building on a) the findings of the 1st JEE in 2017, b) the State Party Annual Reporting Scores for 2018, and c) the Partners landscape analysis of the country in the post-EVD outbreak. The first NAPHS for south Sudan had nearly 150 activities of which approximately 40% were funded. Of the funded activities, 90% were implemented. Therefore, the donor and funding context of South Sudan, in the midst of multiple emergencies remains the single most important bottleneck to health security development.

As the first NAPHS for South Sudan comes to an end, the Emergency Preparedness and Response program in the country notes the changed context. Unlike in 2018, this years NAPHS will be a second edition building on the experiences of the past 5 years. Health emergencies continue to increase due to the climate-related complexities of flooding and drought in addition to the civil war and infectious diseases web that rocked South Sudan at the time. South Sudan now has a ‘’One Health Strategic Plan” and several line ministries and government agencies now have health-supporting policies and plans. The national and state-level multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms for one’s health are also now fully established. However, the country team notes that the first-generation NAPHS was never translated into an annual Operational Plan, and neither did it have an implementation tracker or any official commissioned review of progress over the life of the plan.

Duties and Deliverables

In the Republic of South Sudan, reporting to the Team Lead for Country Preparedness and IHR, and based on priorities set by the EPR cluster lead and the WHO Head of Country Office, and working closely with counterparts at the respective regional office and HQ, the incumbent will act as the technical expert to review and provide oversight to the development of the National Action Plan for Health Security. S/he will provide technical oversight for developing NAPHS, mapping of the NAPHS implementation partners and any related operational plans, monitoring and evaluation of public health policies and programmes pertaining to national health security. The incumbent will work in close collaboration with relevant technical officers at the national level and subnational levels.

Duties:

During deployment, the duty station may change, and duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Programme but the incumbent is required to have a dedicated focus on the strategic task of NAPHS Development. Over the proposed consultancy period of 3 months (with the possibility of extension for 3 months subject to satisfactory progress on the deliverables and availability of funds), the incumbent will:

1.Develop the concept note and protocols for review of the NAPHS 2020-2024 implementation

2.Coordinate and manage the process leading to the comprehensive review of the NAPHS 2020-2024 implementation

3.Produce the NAPHS 2020-2024 implementation review report

4.Facilitate policy dialogue and decision-making processes leading to development of NAPHS 2025-2029 strategic objectives and key interventions

5.Develop the NAPHS 2025-2029 strategic plan, aligned with the orientations of “One health approach” and other key strategic plans of the republic of South Sudan

6.Develop an extract of an annual NAPHS Operations plan for the first year

7.Facilitate the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) including participation in the process of verification and risk assessment on reported public health events.

8.Conduct mentorship and on job training through supportive supervision at national, state, county, and Health facility levels to improve multi-sectoral interventions for health security in South Sudan

9.Perform any other duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

Deliverables

1. Review report for NAPHS implementation in South Sudan
2. Second-generation NAPHS for South Sudan,
3. Annual Operational Plan for NAPHS Implementation in South Sudan
4. IDSR data Quality Self-Assessment or Audit
5. IDSR Data Quality Improvement Plan

Qualifications, experience, skills, and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential:An advanced university degree (Master’s level or above) in Public Health, epidemiology, Health Services Management or Veterinary Public Health from an accredited/recognized institution.

Desirable: First university degree in a health-related field like quantitative epidemiology, Health information management or health-related field.Specialized training in communicable disease control

Experience:

Essential: At least five years’ related experience, at the national and international levels, in the development of National Action Plans for Health Security, Multi-sectoral coordination for one-health, literature review and appraisal, and the implementation of public health surveillance, outbreak investigation, and response in humanitarian settings. Experience in engaging multisectoral and multidisciplinary stakeholders to develop strategic and operational plans for the prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases particularly those with epidemic and pandemic potential;

Desirable:

Prior work experiences in complex and protracted humanitarian contexts with WHO, other related UN agencies, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations, or with an international nongovernmental organization with expertise in disaster and outbreak response and One Health.

Skills/Knowledge:

To effectively deliver on the priority deliverables for the consultancy period, the ideal candidate should:

·Demonstrate knowledge of IHR and related monitoring frameworks

·Demonstrable knowledge and skills in emergency preparedness and response relief operations, complemented by skills in the field of epidemiological or statistical data collection, assessment, analysis, and the evaluation and monitoring in a public health context.

·Proven ability to multitask across various planning and implementation processes within a highly demanding environment.

·Demonstrated knowledge, competency, and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control, epidemic and pandemic preparedness, and response with the one health approaches.

·Knowledge, skills, and experience in engaging multisectoral and multidisciplinary stakeholders to develop strategic and operational plans.

Other Skills

vDemonstrated experience in Partnerships coordination

vExcellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.

vWorking knowledge of online data collection applications.

Languages and level required

·Excellent knowledge of English. Working knowledge of another WHO official language would be an asset.