Role overview
What you'll be stepping into
Baylor Foundation Uganda, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, seeks an Epidemiologist to support the strengthening of integrated public health services, including community and health facility surveillance, acute febrile illness (AFI) surveillance, mortality surveillance, and infection prevention and control (IPC).
The successful candidate will support milestone monitoring and coordination activities at the Regional Emergency Operations Centre (REOC) and district levels. The role will contribute to the timely detection, notification, verification, investigation, and analysis of public health events to guide evidence-based public health action and outbreak response.
Key Responsibilities
1. Data Management and Analysis at the Regional Emergency Operations Centre (REOC)
Collect, validate, clean, and analyse surveillance data from community and health facility sources.
Prepare and submit timely surveillance reports, dashboards, and other information products to the REOC and national task forces.
Participate in REOC coordination meetings and contribute to the development of public health response strategies.
Support the integration of mortality data into national surveillance and health information systems, including DHIS2 and EWARN.
Triangulate mortality data with case surveillance information and reports from burial teams.
Strengthen the capacity of REOC teams to develop and disseminate timely, accurate, and relevant public health information products.
Participate in routine data and records reviews to identify priority disease pathogens and inform appropriate public health action.
2. Regional and District Coordination and Capacity Strengthening
Support regional coordination mechanisms in collaboration with the REOC.
Organise and facilitate biweekly epidemic intelligence meetings.
Coordinate with district surveillance officers, laboratory teams, burial teams, IPC focal persons, and other stakeholders to strengthen public health surveillance and response.
Document lessons learned and good practices to inform future outbreak preparedness and response activities.
Participate in surveillance review meetings, technical discussions, and capacity-building activities.
Coordinate the deployment of regional rapid response teams during public health emergencies.
Work with the REOC to ensure that public health signals are verified within 24 hours of triage.
Support the completion of early action reviews for all confirmed public health events and ensure that the 7-1-7 tracker is updated.
Coordinate with the REOC to ensure that formal outbreak response actions are initiated within seven days, in line with the stated programme targets.
Collaborate with REOCs and the national One Health platform to establish and operationalise district One Health Teams (OHTs).
Coordinate and supervise the implementation of the epidemic-ready primary health care model across the region.
3. Community Disease and Mortality Surveillance
Train and supervise community health workers (CHWs) on death notification and verbal autopsy procedures.
Coordinate community-based reporting of deaths, including suspected Sudan virus disease (SVD)-related fatalities.
Support community engagement and awareness activities to improve the reporting of deaths and suspected public health events.
Ensure timely investigation, verification, and documentation of reported community deaths.
Work with local leaders and Village Health Teams (VHTs) to verify and trace reported community deaths.
4. Health Facility Surveillance and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
Provide technical guidance to health facility staff on the accurate medical certification of cause of death (MCCoD).
Support the implementation of continuous quality improvement approaches to improve the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of surveillance data.
Facilitate regular mortality review meetings at health facilities.
Mentor health facility staff on the appropriate use of ICD-10 codes for death reporting.
Monitor and report gaps in facility-based mortality surveillance and recommend practical improvements.
5. Acute Febrile Illness (AFI) Surveillance
Work with the REOC to monitor acute febrile illness surveillance performance across the region.
Conduct supportive supervision and targeted mentorship for underperforming surveillance sites.
Support the analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of AFI surveillance data.
Required Qualifications
Applicants should possess the following qualifications:
A bachelor's degree in Medicine, Public Health, Statistics, or a related field.
A master's degree in Epidemiology, Public Health, or a related discipline.
Additional training in field epidemiology.
Required Experience
At least five years of relevant professional experience.
Key Skills and Competencies
1. Epidemiological and Technical Skills
Disease surveillance and surveillance system design.
Outbreak investigation and response.
Case definition development and case finding.
Contact tracing and monitoring.
Epidemic curve development and transmission analysis.
Public health risk assessment and characterisation.
Disease forecasting and trend analysis.
Knowledge of communicable diseases and emerging infectious diseases.
2. Data Management and Analysis
Data collection, cleaning, validation, and management.
Statistical analysis and interpretation.
Analysis of surveillance and outbreak data.
Database management and data quality assurance.
Data visualisation and dashboard development.
Proficiency in statistical software such as R, Stata, SPSS, or Epi Info.
Familiarity with DHIS2 and other health information systems.
Geographic and spatial analysis using GIS or QGIS.
Development and implementation of data quality improvement measures.
3. Outbreak Preparedness and Response
Rapid outbreak assessment and investigation.
Development and implementation of preparedness and response plans.
Incident management and emergency operations coordination.
Rapid public health risk assessment.
Preparation of situation reports and epidemiological bulletins.
Monitoring and reporting on outbreak response indicators.
Support for simulation exercises and after-action reviews.
Application of the 7-1-7 framework for outbreak detection, notification, and response.
4. Surveillance Systems
Design and strengthening of indicator-based surveillance systems.
Event-based and community-based surveillance.
Integrated disease surveillance.
Syndromic surveillance.
One Health surveillance approaches.
Cross-border and regional disease surveillance.
Early warning and alert systems.
Data triangulation across human, animal, and environmental health sources.
5. Communication and Coordination
Technical report writing and documentation.
Preparation of epidemiological bulletins and situation reports.
Data presentation and visualisation.
Communicating complex epidemiological findings to non-technical audiences.
Facilitation of technical and coordination meetings.
Collaboration with laboratories, clinicians, surveillance officers, and other stakeholders.
Effective communication during public health emergencies.
6. Global Health Security Competencies
Knowledge of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).
Application of One Health approaches.
Public health emergency preparedness and response.
Risk communication and community engagement.
Health security and health system resilience.
Border health and points-of-entry surveillance.
How to apply