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Mission and objectives
The World Health Organization serves as the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system. WHO seeks to promote health, ensure everyone can attain the highest level of health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable through partnerships, people and countries.
Context
As regards TB, the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is challenged in a myriad of ways. Unstable political, highly volatile, and often worsening socioeconomic and environmental conditions are prone to worsen the TB situation, as TB is a disease that is co-determined by conditions such as under nutrition and poverty. With that, reaching SDG 3.3, End TB Strategy and WHO Regional TB Action Plan 2023 – 2030 milestones, goals and targets is more than ever at risk. Related TB indicators, such as the impact indicators estimated TB incidence, and TB mortality, have fallen short of the End TB Strategy stipulated reductions of 35% and 20% over the period 2015 – 2020 respectively. Shortly exacerbated by COVID-19 inflicted TB service disruptions, meanwhile TB case finding has mostly recovered, however, along the entire cascade of TB prevention, treatment and care, progress is too slow in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There is a myriad of challenges pertaining to TB diagnosis. Despite recent progress in gradually improving the region-wide introduction of WHO certified rapid molecular diagnostic tools, and of increasing the rate of bacteriological diagnostic TB confirmation, many cases are still clinically diagnosed. For example, there are false negatives and false positives, the first of which should be treated, and the latter should not be. Furthermore drug-resistance testing is recommended for all TB patients at initial diagnosis, to ensure effective individual treatment, but not done for most cases. Finally, TB prevention being most effective in the portfolio of TB public health measures is not sufficiently supported by diagnostic tests to determine TB infectious status rapidly and effectively, in most countries of the Region. In this context one of the priorities of the Regional TB programme of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is to intensify support to its 22 Member States in improving and sustaining the TB diagnostic networks and capacity.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the TB Regional Advisor, with his support and the support of his team, in line with the End TB Strategy and Regional TB Action Plan 2023 – 2020, the UNV will: 1) Conduct a region-wide mapping of TB diagnostic status quo 2) Develop and periodically update country-specific SMART roadmaps for TB diagnostic strengthening, based on the periodic review of country data, technical assistance reports, TB national strategic plans, and other relevant documents; 3) Monitor implementation of the country-roadmaps mentioned under 2); 4) Annually collect and analyses TB diagnosis and lab data in accordance with the TB Regional Action Plan 2023 – 2030; 5) Support TB diagnosis and lab capacity building in selected Member States of the Region and at regional level; 6) Develop a peer reviewed scientific publication on the challenges and progress of TB diagnostic network expansion in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region in the second year of the assignment; 7) Link the work under this assignment with related work streams within the division, under the framework of communicable diseases laboratory and diagnostic network integration; 8) Support the TB Regional Advisor and his team with other tasks as needed.
