Regional Medical Officer P4

This position is for a Regional Medical Officer P4 based in WFP’s Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO) in Panama City.

WFP Regional Medical Officers (RMOs) are currently located in Panama City (Panama), Nairobi (Kenya), Dakar (Senegal), Bangkok (Thailand), Cairo (Egypt) and Johannesburg (S. Africa), and they are under the Global HQ supervision of the Chief, Medical Service of the Wellness and Culture Division (WELM). Job holders have in-depth technical knowledge and experience required to identify, analyze and resolve complex medical issues, providing support and solid advice to managers and staff in the assigned region. They are essential medical components forming the Regional Wellness Network (RWN) and are required to provide technical expertise, advice and solutions that support strategic results, and formulate regional strategies and approaches where appropriate.

To design and coordinate the delivery of medical services in the LAC region and across WFP globally for efficient and effective promotion, prevention and protection of the health and safety of WFP staff following the People Policy, the Wellness Strategy and Regional strategic objectives.

ACCOUNTABILITIES:

A)          Occupational health services:

1.    Manage and conduct health protection, injury and illness prevention and health-promotion programs across WFP globally, with primary focus on the LAC region, in line with each Country Office (CO)’s strategic objectives and with guidance from the Wellness and Culture Division; 
2.    Provide travel medicine services for employees on official travel, incorporating destination-specific health advice, facilitating access to immunization, prophylactic medications and travel medical kits;
3.    Manage the return to work of national staff members after extended sick leave;
4.    Advise employees on medical and health issues related to their work; 
5.    Assess and respond to staff concerns regarding health and ergonomic aspects of their workplace, and other well-being matters related to work environment; 
6.    Provide support and assist managers, teams and employees in implementing the activities and programs related to WFP Policies relevant to staff health, safety and wellness; 
7.    Perform as required and assess medical examinations and clearances for locally-recruited employees related to recruitment, periodic medical examination, pre-departure briefing for missions to the field, etc;
8.    Report and analyze mortality and morbidity statistics from reports on sick leave, medical evacuations, deaths, work related illnesses or accidents; 
9.    Identify through access to medical examinations and consultations reports, the main health hazards (work related or environmental) which could affect the health of the workforce and their dependents in their respective area;
10.    Support WFP Country Offices (COs) and Global HQ in the monitoring and management of the WFP Medical Assistance Teams and UN Clinics serving WFP field staff and cost-shared by the Organization;
11.    Support WFP COs in the management and monitoring of the implementation of the Service Level Agreements or Memoranda of Understanding regarding the sharing of DPKO/DFS Missions field medical services to WFP employees;
12.    Carry out systematic field visits to the top priority countries of the region and reports to the relevant  local management and Chief Medical Officer on findings recommending solutions based on local approaches, including the assessment of the Minimal Health Support Elements such as primary, tertiary, psychiatric care and pharmaceutical availability and a local Mass Casualty Incident plan and Health Risk Assessments if needed;
13.    Systematically record locally-recruited personnel health data onto the global medical corporate database to produce reliable reports on staff health trends, challenges and risks to business continuity;
14.    Establish functional and operational relations with the other Duty of Care allied functions (e.g. Staff Counselling, Security, Management Services ) in order to constitute an emergency and occupational health & safety network at the regional level for all WFP personnel (Regional Wellness Network);
15.    Along with other Duty of Care allied fonctions, provide induction and briefing on staff health challenges to in-coming field managers with particular respect to medical evacuation procedures and SOPs, medical referrals in country and mass casualty planning (if applicable);
16.    Ensure regional compliance to UN HIV/AIDS recommended activities including preparation and dissemination of the PEP kit country specific protocols, facilitated access to PICT and VCCT;
17.    Ensure medical compliance to Security Risk Management (SRM) prescriptions in terms of first aid kits availability, maintenance and training in the offices, vehicles and the provision of relevant training;
18.    Conduct regular visits and assessments of WFP-administered staff accommodation in the field for compliance to minimum health standards and advise/recommend accordingly actions to the appropriate officer;
19.    Provide health education and improvement programs on local health risks, working/living conditions, including stress prevention programs in coordination with the Regional Staff Counsellors to broaden staff awareness of alcohol and drug abuse and their impact at the workplace.

20.    Although the RMO is NOT the primary care physician of WFP employees, provide first aid and emergency services in response to accidents occurring in the workplace; 
21.    Systematically access and liaise with local medical facilities to ascertain proper medical care rendered; 
22.    Establish a referral list and updated list of reasonable and customary costs at the duty station;   
23.    Provide advice to managers and employees on sick leave issues; 
24.    Provide medical advice for disability cases, special dependency provisions, requests for reasonable accommodation for disability, work-related illness or injury and education benefits; 
25.    Recommend, facilitate and manage medical evacuations of national and international staff and eligible dependents at the regional referral medical center level; 
26.    Verify appropriateness, reasonableness and customary nature of major medical bills/treatments as required;
27.    Provide surge capacity to the corporate and UN System emergency response capacity including mass casualty incidents;  
28.    Provide ongoing management or assistance with follow-up of chronic medical conditions diagnosed and for which treatment has already started; 
29.    Facilitate staff access to local medical facilities and ensures follow-up. 
 

• Diploma of Medical Doctor (MD); Postgraduate medical qualification in internal medicine and/or emergency medicine and/or occupational health and safety and/or public health.

• Minimum 8 years of clinical practice as a Medical Doctor/ Practitioner of which at least 2 years should be in an international organization;

• At least 5 years of successful management of interdisciplinary teams.

• Demonstrated leadership, management and team building skills;

• Excellent communication, presentation and drafting skills;

• Knowledge of addressing the psychosocial needs of humanitarian workers;

• Experience in emergency management (crisis or disaster medicine), travel medicine, tropical and infectious disease;

• Negotiation skills;

• Project design and management skills;

• Training experience and facilitation is an asset.

Fluency (level C) in English and Spanish is required. Fluency in another official UN language (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or Portuguese) is desirable.

• This is an International Professional position, and candidates must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

• Mobility is and continues to be, a core contractual requirement in WFP. The selected candidate will be employed on a fixed term as well as a rotational contract with a probationary period of one year. This position is open to both internal and external candidates.

• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel, visa and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, a pension plan, and medical insurance. For more information, visit https://icsc.un.org/. [link removed]

• The selected candidate will be required to relocate to Panama City.