Technical Officer – Market Surveillance and Control

Mission and objectives

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations Public Health Organization established in 1948. The objective of the World Health Organization shall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. World Health Organization achieves its goals by performing its essential functions: 1. Take a leadership role in key health issues and create partnerships when joint action is needed; 2. Set research priorities and encourage the acquisition, application and dissemination of useful knowledge; 3. Setting standards and criteria and encouraging and monitoring them; 4. Develop ethical and evidence-based policies 5. Provide technical support, be an agent of change and build institutional capacity in a sustainable way; 6. Monitor health status and assess health trends.

Context

Support Member States in building capacity and in preventing, detecting, and responding to substandard and falsified (SF) medical products, including IVDs and other medical devices, through strengthened GSMS reporting, incident management, risk communication, risk-based post market surveillance (rbPMS) activities, and Quality Control Laboratory (QCL) enablement. This person shall take the lead in coordinating and engaging relevant technical experts, as required, to support the effective implementation of planned activities.

Task Description

1. Technical support to Member States • Provide technical assistance in implementing National Action Plans related to substandard and falsified (SF ) medical products. • Support the delivery of technical assistance to national quality control laboratories (NQCLs), including through on-site visits, twinning programmes, and peer-learning initiatives. • Enable national regulatory authorities (NRAs ) to publish in vitro diagnostic (IVD ) field safety notices (FSNs) and field safety corrective actions (FSCAs) using searchable, structured formats aligned with International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) datasets. • Support establishment and improvement of national medical-device incident databases and analytics tools. • Contribute to the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of SF risk-based post-market surveillance activities and laboratory capacity-strengthening efforts towards WHO Listed Quality Control Laboratories (WLQCL) program. 2. Regional network and partnership coordination • Maintain collaboration with regional regulatory authorities and laboratory networks. • Coordinate day-to-day focal-point (FP) engagement, onboarding, and regional/subregional FP meetings. • Support joint activities with partners in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), including United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Customs Organization (WCO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Interpol, and academic laboratories. 3. GSMS data cycle and analytics • Coordinate regional Global Surveillance and Monitoring System(GSMS) reporting and management of SF medical product incidents. • Support uploads, curation, and validation of reports, and local media/signal scanning to improve data quality and contextualized risk assessments. • Produce localized threat assessments and thematic briefs for national and regional authorities and the WHO headquarters (HQ ) team. 4. Risk communication • Adapt and disseminate global risk communication (RC) tools to regional contexts; support country-level RC plans and provide surge support during incidents. 5. Training, Capacity Building, and Knowledge Dissemination • Organize and contribute to regional training sessions using the SF toolkit and other relevant materials, delivered through regional centres of excellence and collaborating centres. • Contribute to the development, dissemination, and evaluation of training materials, guidance tools, and technical resources for SF and laboratory strengthening activities. • Monitor and evaluate the delivery and impact of training programmes, ensuring alignment with regional priorities and WHO standards. 6. Reporting and Coordination • Provide input into regional planning and reporting processes, ensuring timely and accurate documentation of activities and outcomes. • Submit quarterly key performance indicator (KPI ) updates, contribute to After-Action Reviews (AARs), and support biennium reporting.

Competencies and values

• Teamwork • Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences • Communication • Producing results • Ensuring the effective use of resources

Living conditions and remarks

Brazzaville is a family duty station with access to basic services, medical facilities, and international travel connections. The environment is culturally rich but requires adaptability and resilience. You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator. The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos