Senior Technical Officer – Surveillance (AfCDC) -(7 Positions)

Organization Information

Job Title: Senior Technical Officer- Surveillance
Job Grade: P3
Number of Positions : 7
Number of Direct Reports: 0
Number of Indirect Reports: 0
Contract Type: Appointment for Limited Duration (ALD)
Reports to: Head of Division, Surveillance and Disease Intelligence

Purpose of Job

Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a specialized technical institution of the African Union established to support public health initiatives of Africa Union Member States (AU MS) and strengthen the capacity of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control, and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats. Africa CDC supports AU MS in providing coordinated and integrated solutions to the inadequacies in their public health infrastructure, human resource capacity, disease surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, and preparedness and response to health emergencies and disasters.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) was officially launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 31, 2017. Africa CDC is Africa’s first continent-wide public health agency and envisions a safer, healthier, integrated and stronger Africa, where Member States are capable of effectively responding to outbreaks of infectious diseases and other public health threats. Africa CDC emphasizes data-driven interventions and programs to improve epidemic surveillance and response across its Member States. In line with this vision, Africa CDC has been enhancing its early detection and information sharing capabilities.

Within this context, the Surveillance and Disease intelligence division at Africa CDC Headquarters leads to the agency’s timely detection of public health threats and strengthening Member States capabilities of the same. The Senior Technical Officer, Surveillance (P3 equivalent) position has been created to drive this surveillance portfolio, ensuring evidence-based decision-making for health security in Africa.

Main Functions

The Senior Technical Officer (STO) will lead the strategic coordination and technical oversight of the national integrated surveillance system. This role is responsible for the development and operationalization of integrated surveillance initiatives including Epidemic Intelligence, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and Mortality Surveillance. The STO will work with National Public health institutes and ministries of health to ensure timely detection and response to public health threats while facilitating cross-border information sharing to enhance national and regional health security.

Specific Responsibilities

• Lead routine epidemic intelligence activities, including systematic media scanning and signal verification for potential public health threats.
• Oversee the establishment and harmonization of national AMR surveillance protocols, ensuring data collection from clinical and laboratory sites aligns with national policies.
• Coordinate the implementation of mortality surveillance systems to detect unusual patterns in death rates that may indicate emerging outbreaks.
• Facilitate real-time information sharing and surveillance collaboration with neighbouring countries and regional health bodies to mitigate cross-border health threats.
• Lead the development of national policies, processes, procedures, and tools for an integrated surveillance approach encompassing EBS, AMR, and mortality.
• Support the training of health workers, laboratory staff, and community informants on data collection using an integrated approach.
• Support the development of monthly integrated disease briefs and technical reports to guide national and regional interventions.
• Coordinate One Health collaboration across human health, animal, environmental, and community stakeholders to address public health threats.

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience

• Master’s degree in public health, Epidemiology or related fields, with a minimum of 7years of relevant work experience out of which three (3) years should be at the supervisory level.

OR

• Bachelor’s degree in public health, Epidemiology or related fields and a minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience out of which three (3) years should be at the supervisory level.

Required Skills

• Demonstrable experience in implementing public health programs with a focus on epidemic intelligence, AMR, and mortality surveillance.
• In-depth understanding of national health systems, Ministries of Health operations, and the National Public Health Institute framework.
• Ability to engage effectively and diplomatically with national governments, donor institutions, and international partners like WHO and Africa CDC.
• Ability to engage effectively and diplomatically with external partners including national governments, donor institutions, inter-governmental agencies, and academia.
• Demonstrable experience and in-depth knowledge of operations of the Africa CDC, Regional Coordinating Centres and National Public Health Institutes is preferred.
• Clear understanding and experience with the health systems on the continent and fair knowledge of operations of the Ministries of health in Member States.
• Excellent computer skills, including word-processing capabilities, proficiency with e-mail and internet applications, power-point and experience in using statistical, database, and analytic tools like R, ArcGIS, MS Word and Excel etc is desirable.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills with the ability to convey key messages to a variety of audiences and serve as an advocate for the Programme’s activities

TENURE OF APPOINTMENT:

The Appointment will be for a period of Eleven (11) Months, of which the first three (3) months will be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract may be renewed subject to funding availability, satisfactory performance and agreed deliverables.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING:

Africa CDC is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

LANGUAGES:

• Proficiency in one of the AU working languages (Arabic, English, French, Kiswahili, Portuguese, and Spanish) is mandatory and fluency in another AU language is an added advantage

REMUNERATION:

The basic salary attached to this position for the eleven month period is US$38,517.22 (P3 Step 5) for both international and locally recruited staff. Additional benefits such as post adjustment, housing allowance, and gratuity are provided in accordance with the African Union’s salary structure applicable to the specific duty station.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Applications must be submitted no later than February 24 ,2026 11h59 p.m. EAT.

-Only candidates who meet all job requirements and are selected for interviews will be contacted.

-Consideration will be given only to those candidates who have submitted a fully completed online application with a curriculum vitae (CV), an African passport, and the required academic qualifications, such as Diplomas, Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees and any relevant certificate in line with the area of expertise.

-The African Union is an equal opportunity employer, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

-Candidates from less represented countries within the African Union are strongly encouraged to apply for positions that fit their profiles.

These countries include: Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Sahrawi D.R., Sao Tome and Principe., Seychelles, Somalia and Tunisia.