PAHO Consultant - Respiratory Virus Surveillance

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OBJECTIVE OF THE OFFICE/DEPARTMENT This is a requisition for employment at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) Contractual Agreement: Non-Staff - International PAHO Consultant Job Posting: June 25, 2026 Closing Date: July 2, 2026, 11:59 PM Eastern Time Primary Location: Off Site Organization: IHM Infectious Hazard Management Schedule: Full time PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY Position Title: Respiratory virus surveillance consultant Purpose of contract: The purpose of this consultancy is to support regional initiatives aimed at enhancing respiratory virus surveillance, monitoring, reporting, and information sharing for public health decision-making in the Americas. Description of deliverables: The objective of the Health Emergencies Department (PHE) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is to increase health sector resilience to emergencies and disasters. PHE assists Member States to strengthen the health sector's capacities in prevention, risk reduction, preparedness, surveillance, response, and early recovery for emergencies and disasters related to any hazards (natural, man-made, biological, chemical, radiological and others) and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to contain disasters, including outbreaks, and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations. PHE is responsible for ensuring the implementation and updating of the PAHO/WHO Institutional Emergency and Disaster Response Policy. The consultant will support countries in the surveillance, prevention, preparedness and control of pandemic and epidemic-prone diseases. A primary focus is strengthening integrated routine surveillance systems in Member States across the Americas to enable timely monitoring of the epidemiological context of seasonal influenza, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other respiratory viruses (ORVs). This approach supports informed decision-making and enhances countries' preparedness to track trends in future respiratory pandemics. DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES: General responsibilities : Under the direct supervision of the Advisor, Epidemic-prone Diseases Epidemiology and the general supervision of the Unit Chief, Infectious Hazard Management, the consultant will perform the following functions: Provide technical cooperation to countries in the Americas to strengthen, monitor, and evaluate surveillance systems for influenza, COVID-19, RSV, and ORV at national and local levels, including through country missions. Assist in developing and revising data collection protocols for respiratory disease surveillance at the country level. Assess needs and deliver targeted training on surveillance of seasonal and pandemic influenza, COVID-19, RSV, and ORV. Support the regional consolidation of epidemiologic and virologic surveillance data on influenza, COVID-19, RSV and ORV. Update and promote regional guidance on integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses, including through sentinel network. Coordinate the data collection and analysis for the Landscape Analysis of Respiratory Virus Surveillance Systems in the Americas. Coordinate and monitor the weekly submission of regional reports to the global level. Identify training needs and implement capacity-building initiatives to support regional guidelines for sentinel surveillance activities. Contribute to the preparation of regional reports, newsletters, and meetings on integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses. Coordinate the implementation of the MOSAIC framework initiative in the Americas. Lead the SARInet working group on integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses. Design and implement a routine monitoring framework for sentinel surveillance sites in Member States, including the development of standardized performance indicators covering data completeness, timeliness, representativeness, and site-level reporting consistency. Develop and apply structured assessment tools for periodic evaluation of sentinel surveillance systems at the country level, including site visit protocols, scoring rubrics, and documentation standards aligned with IHR core capacities and the Mosaic framework. Consolidate and analyze routine monitoring data across the sentinel network to support countries identify underperforming sites, emerging gaps, and capacity-building priorities, and translate findings into actionable country-specific recommendations. Deliverables and payment schedule The consultant will be responsible for delivering the following products/services related to these responsibilities with input from the respective project manager, the Advisor, Epidemic-prone Diseases Epidemiology: 1. Progress report on the development of training materials for sentinel surveillance of respiratory viruses in the Americas and list of technical materials needed to operationalize the domain 2 guidance. 31 August 2026 $6,708 2. Draft regional

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