Senior Program Officer – VPDPolio Surveillance ,Telangana, Madhya Pradesh & Odisha

Jhpiego is an international non-profit health organisation and an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University dedicated to improving the health of women and families in developing countries. For over 50 years it has focused on providing high-quality low-cost health care solutions training health workers and strengthening health systems.

Jhpiego has been working in India since the 1980s in close partnership with national and state governments. With deep technical expertise and strong on-the-ground execution Jhpiego helps design test and scale practical solutions and innovations that fit real- world systems across 11 thematic domains (Maternal and Newborn Health Reproductive Health Nutrition Immunisation Comprehensive Primary Health Care Human Resources for Health TB and Infectious Diseases Global Health Security Womens Cancers Non-Communicable Diseases Digital Health).

TheStrengthening Vaccine-Preventable Disease (VPD)Polio Surveillance in Indiaproject aims to strengthen polio surveillance within the broader VPD surveillance framework by supporting Indias transition towards a government-owned integrated surveillance system under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP).

The project focuses on strengthening institutional capacity surveillance systems private-sector engagement and community participation to improve early case detection timely reporting outbreak preparedness and rapid response. The initiative will also generate scalable implementation models and learning for wider adoption across India.

TheSenior Program Officer VPD/Polio Surveillancewill provide technical and programmatic support for implementation of the VPDPolio Surveillance initiative. The position will support surveillance system strengthening capacity building outbreak preparedness and response private-sector engagement community-based surveillance digital monitoring and documentation of implementation learning.

The role will work closely with government stakeholders healthcare providers private-sector partners community platforms frontline workers and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen surveillance sensitivity improve timely reporting and support rapid identification and response to suspected VPD cases.

• Implement VPDpolio surveillance strengthening activities in line with approved project plans.
• Strengthen surveillance systems for timely case detection reporting investigation and outbreak response.
• Coordinate with private healthcare providers and district surveillance authorities to improve reporting and follow-up.
• Engage Jan Arogya Samiti (JAS) frontline workers and community platforms to promote awareness and early reporting of suspected VPD cases.
• Support digital monitoring systems dashboards and alerts to improve reporting timeliness and completeness.
• Monitor surveillance performance conduct field visits and identify operational gaps requiring corrective action.
• Support/Ensure capacity building supportive supervision and provide technical guidance to improve surveillance quality.
• Prepare programme updates reports presentations and other required documentation.
• Document best practices challenges and lessons learned through case studies success stories and technical briefs.
• Coordinate with government stakeholders private healthcare providers community platforms frontline workers and project teams.
• Perform other duties assigned by the supervisor in support of programme objectives.

Qualifications and Experience

• Masters degree inPublic Health / Epidemiology / Community Medicine / Health Management / Social Sciencesor a related field.
• Preferable experience inVaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) polio surveillance immunisation outbreak preparedness or disease surveillance.
• Minimum 5 years experience working in immunisation/public health at national/state level.

Relevant experience in public health program implementation disease surveillance immunisation or health systems strengthening

Abilities/Skills:

• Strong understanding of public health surveillance and disease surveillance systems.
• Strong understanding of VPD surveillance case detection reporting outbreak preparedness and response.
• Strong program implementation and coordination skills.
• Experience in capacity building training and supportive supervision.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Good documentation report writing presentation and knowledge-management skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office and digital data/monitoring systems.
• Willingness to undertake field travel as required.