Infectious Disease Surveillance Consultant (South Sudan), Epidemic Preparedness and Response, Global Health Programs
PATH (PATH) · INGO
PATH current employees - please log in and apply Here
PATH is a global nonprofit dedicated to achieving health equity. With more than 40 years of experience forging multisector partnerships and with expertise in science, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales up innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing health challenges.
Location: Juba, South Sudan
PATH seeks an Infectious Disease Surveillance Consultant for the STRengthening Infectious disease DEtection Systems (STRIDES) Project in South Sudan. The project will support the Government of South Sudan and partners to strengthen infectious disease surveillance, early warning, detection, preparedness, and analytical capacity across human and animal health systems, with a particular focus on epidemic- and pandemic-prone diseases, including EVD and other VHFs.
The Infectious Disease Surveillance Consultant must meet or exceed the required qualifications listed below. This individual should be a subject matter expert who will provide technical leadership for surveillance and preparedness activities in South Sudan, including support to community health workers, health facility staff, county and state surveillance teams, and national counterparts to improve EVD and VHF readiness, identify system gaps, and strengthen timely detection, reporting, investigation, referral, and response. The consultant will work closely with the PATH Country Lead and the Regional Lead, and with external partners including FHI 360, Black & Veatch, and others.
Responsibilities include:
Provide technical leadership and day-to-day coordination for infectious disease surveillance activities across national, state, county, health facility, and community levels in South Sudan, including IBS, EBS, CBS, laboratory surveillance, zoonotic disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, HIS strengthening, alert verification, data use, and rapid response mechanisms in accordance with national IDSR guidelines and IHR 2005.
Coordinate surveillance preparedness activities including a rapid surveillance assessment, county prioritization, contingency planning inputs, preparedness assessments, simulation exercises, after-action reviews, and corrective action planning to improve operational readiness for EVD and other public health emergencies.
Support STRIDES in the PHEOC, Epidemiological Surveillance Pillar TWG, South Sudan Health Cluster, and other relevant coordination platforms to maintain situational awareness, map partner coverage, identify surveillance and HIS gaps, and provide technical leadership on surveillance priorities, alert management, case investigation, CBS, CHW reporting, and partner coordination across the 15 national EVD high-risk counties.
Establish and maintain strong collaborative relationships with the Ministry of Health, UN agencies, state and county health authorities, CGPP, CMMB, IOM, FHI 360, Black & Veatch, donors, and other surveillance partners to promote harmonized activities, effective information sharing, and coordinated understanding of CBS coverage, CHW reporting mechanisms, PoE surveillance signals, referral pathways, and gaps before proposing new STRIDES-supported activities.
Provide technical support for One Health surveillance integration, promoting collaboration among human health, animal health, wildlife, and environmental sectors to strengthen detection and response to zoonotic diseases and other emerging health threats.
Assess and support inclusion of EVD and VHF syndromic indicators in existing CHW training, alert reporting forms, referral triggers, and supportive supervision tools, working through existing CBS networks rather than creating parallel systems.
Conduct and document a rapid surveillance assessment covering alert-to-response timelines, CBS/CHW network coverage, facility reporting coverage, referral pathway functionality, unreachable counties for alert verification, and evidence-based county prioritization across the 15 high-risk counties.
Produce high-quality epidemiological and HIS products, and promote digital transformation by supporting electronic surveillance systems, mobile reporting platforms, interoperability initiatives, GIS mapping, real-time surveillance dashboards, weekly and monthly surveillance reports, SitReps, epidemiological bulletins, preparedness dashboards, outbreak updates, risk assessments, hotspot analyses, partner briefs, and assessment outputs to improve early warning, reporting, response, and decision-making.
Provide strategic technical advice to national stakeholders on surveillance policies, preparedness strategies, outbreak response planning, and implementation of JEE, NAPHS, IDSR, and IHR 2005 priorities.
Perform any other technical duties assigned that contribute to strengthening infectious disease surveillance, HIS, health security, emergency preparedness, outbreak response, and overall project success in South Sudan.
Required qualifications and experience:
Master's degree in Epidemiology, Public Health, Veterinary Medicine, Field Epidemiology, Health Informatics, Global Health, or a related field from a recognized institution.
Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in infectious disease surveillance, epidemiology, outbreak preparedness and response, and public health emergency management, including experience working in South Sudan or similar humanitarian and fragile settings.
Demonstrated technical expertise in IDSR, IBS, EBS, CBS, laboratory surveillance, EVD, VHFs, zoonotic diseases, One Health, outbreak investigation, and health security.
Proven experience strengthening surveillance systems, conducting rapid surveillance and preparedness assessments, improving surveillance data quality, supporting RRT readiness, and developing surveillance guidelines, reporting tools, training materials, and standard operating procedures.
Demonstrated experience managing or providing technical leadership for large, multi-partner, donor-funded public health programs; coordinating with the South Sudan Ministry of Health, National Public Health Institute, UN agencies, NGOs, and other partners; and producing high-quality technical reports and surveillance information products.
Experience in EVD and VHF preparedness, surveillance systems strengthening, HIS, and outbreak investigation and control in South Sudan.
Strong understanding of South Sudan's health system, epidemiological profile, humanitarian context, and surveillance priorities.
Willingness and ability to travel throughout South Sudan, including high-risk counties, border areas, points of entry, health facilities, and community sites, to support surveillance assessments, alert verification, outbreak investigations, reporting system strengthening, training, mentoring, supervision, and emergency response activities.
Willing to travel within South Sudan up to 25%.
Excellent written and spoken English is required; knowledge of Arabic or local South Sudanese languages is an added advantage.
Practical experience using DHIS2, EWARS/EWARN, IDSR reporting systems, Microsoft Excel, Power BI, GIS/QGIS, KoboToolbox, ODK, R, STATA, SPSS, or similar analytical platforms.
Must have legal authorization to work in South Sudan