Health Security Advisor

Role Overview\n\nThe Health Security Lead is a senior technical position providing strategic direction, expert guidance, and hands-on support to strengthen case-based and event-based surveillance as a core pillar of Kenya’s health security architecture. Working with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Digital Health Agency (DHA), Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI), and the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), this role advances the digitalization and interoperability of surveillance platforms to operationalize the 7-1-7 target (7 days to detect, 1 day to notify, 7 days to respond) for epidemic-prone threats.\n\n### Key Responsibilities\n\n#### Strategic Leadership & Health Security Alignment\n- Provide strategic leadership for surveillance strengthening within Kenya’s Health Security agenda, aligned to IHR (2005), IDSR, and national digital health policies.\n- Serve as technical advisor to Data.FI, MoH, and the OFA/Embassy Health Office on malaria and integrated disease surveillance.\n- Co-design a roadmap to institutionalize the 7-1-7 target as a performance metric, embedding indicators in routine reviews and county action plans.\n- Support the transition to Government-to-Government (G2G) modalities, emphasizing capacity transfer and sustainability.\n\n#### Surveillance Strengthening & Digital Health Integration\n- Provide high-level technical assistance to NMCP, KNPHI, DHA, and counties to strengthen malaria control and integration with KHIS2.\n- Advance digitalization of surveillance by optimizing electronic case-based reporting and streamlining event management.\n- Strengthen interoperability across platforms (e.g., KHIS2/DHIS2, EMRs, lab systems) using open standards like FHIR/HL7.\n- Incorporate entomological, climatological, and environmental data into malaria risk stratification and early warning dashboards.\n- Support One Health linkages (e.g., wildlife/environmental signals) to improve situational awareness.\n\n#### Outbreak Detection, Investigation & Response\n- Provide expert guidance to national and county rapid response teams for standardized outbreak detection and notification.\n- Embed 7-1-7 performance analytics into outbreak reviews to identify and fix system bottlenecks.\n- Update national guidelines and SOPs for infectious disease outbreak preparedness and response.\n\n#### Analytics & Data Use for Action\n- Lead the analytics function, designing and maintaining automated data pipelines and integrated dashboards.\n- Apply time-series and anomaly detection to generate early signals for malaria upsurges and prioritize response.\n- Produce 7-1-7 scorecards for malaria at national and county levels to track timeliness from detection to response.\n\n#### Capacity Building & Partner Collaboration\n- Design and deliver capacity building on eIDSR, data analysis for action, and the use of digital tools/dashboards.\n- Maintain strong relationships with government officials, CDC, OFA/Embassy, and other international partners.\n\n### Qualifications and Experience\n- Education: Master’s degree or higher in Epidemiology, Public Health, or a related field. A medical degree (MBChB/MD) or Veterinary Medicine with advanced public health training is highly desirable.\n- Experience: 8–10+ years of progressively responsible experience in public health surveillance and outbreak response.\n- Specialized Knowledge: Substantial malaria surveillance experience in sub-Saharan Africa and experience strengthening IDSR within government systems.\n- Technical Skills: Proficiency with R or Python, SQL, and data visualization tools (Power BI, Metabase, Superset). Experience with GIS (QGIS/ArcGIS) is required.\n- Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with IHR (2005), IDSR, and GHSA health security frameworks.\n- Communication: Excellent stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills to work with senior government officials.\n- Travel: Willingness and ability to travel within Kenya up to 30% of the time.\n\n### How to Apply\nInterested and qualified candidates should apply online through the Palladium International recruitment portal at: https://www.myjobmag.co.ke/apply-now/1180417. This link will redirect you to the official application page on the Palladium career site.