Position description
- General Background
The Health Information System (HIS) Officer is a member of a multidisciplinary team and ensures that UNHCR’s public health programs meet minimum UNHCR and global health standards to minimise avoidable morbidity and mortality among forcibly displaced and stateless persons and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The incumbent provides technical support for the UNHCR Health Information System (HIS), including overseeing systems maintenance, enhancements, technical support, capacity building, quality control, data management support, reporting and overall project management of the District Health Information System version 2 (DHIS2). The HIS Officer is responsible for furthering relationships with key external partners such as health NGOs who are the users of the system at the health service delivery level, UN agencies, and donors to facilitate effective system use and drive the expansion of HIS implementation. This includes advancing interoperability of UNHCR HIS with national systems, including DHIS2 in countries and operational settings where feasible and relevant. This position will further enhance Health Information System Management across UNHCR globally by providing capacity-building support to Regional Bureaux and Country Operations. It will also contribute to the effective implementation of planned transition toward DHIS2.
S/he strengthens the critical role that UNHCR’s partners have in the delivery and monitoring of refugee health programs through timely and accurate health data. The incumbent ensures consultation with communities seeking their diverse views in assessing needs, designing, implementing and monitoring responses in line with UNHCR’s policy on age, gender and diversity mainstreaming.
- Purpose and Scope of Assignment
– Support the maintenance of UNHCR HIS to collate accurate health information for country, regional and global monitoring and decision making.
– Coordinate the maintenance and enhancement of UNHCR HIS, tools and platforms in collaboration with subject matter experts, field colleagues, Information Technology Service (ITS), Global Data Service (GDS) and external partners
– Support the functioning of existing HIS platforms and tools including Integrated Refugee Health Information System, Medical Referral Database, Health Access and Utilizations Survey Plus (HAUS+), and Health Facility Assessment Tool (Balanced Score Card) and the transition of these systems to DHIS2.
– Ensure data quality and integrity of public health data through quality checks, user feedback mechanisms, development of guidance and tools and capacity building of UNHCR and partner staff.
– Provide technical support to Bureaux and Country Operations in all aspects of data management including data collection, analysis, reporting and use for informed public health decisions. Maintain UNHCR global database of primary public health, nutrition data and promote routine sharing and use of health information.
– Support public health monitoring and reporting through UNHCR Public Health Annual Reports, Surveys (National Health System Inclusion Survey, Public Health Annual Survey, HAUS+, etc.), UNHCR Annual Program Review and UNHCR Public Health Strategic Plans.
– Participate in the design and development of public health surveys as needed.
– Coordinate with UNHCR implementing partners, UN agencies and Ministries of Health to uphold timely, complete and high-quality reporting.
– Engage with UN agencies, international non-governmental organizations in development, harmonization and standardization of monitoring and evaluation guidelines and tools.
– Work with partners to strengthen the HIS user community and facilitate interaction for technical assistance, tracking issues, and collecting feedback for modifications and improvements.
– Participate in and provide technical input to different fora related to Health Information Systems.
– Optimise the HIS based on analysis and needs, determining priority for improvement in the health data management cycle
– Support efforts to advance interoperability of UNHCR’s HIS and compatibility with Ministries of Health Systems, including DHIS2, where feasible.
– Support national health systems to disaggregate data by refugees and nationals in key areas based on country-specific needs in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commitments.
– Support public health surveillance activities, outbreak preparedness and response.
– Promote multidisciplinary training in the use of public health data by non-health specialists (e.g. Programme, Protection, and Community Services).
– Support compliance with UNHCR data protection policy for all public health platforms for UNHCR and partners.
– Promote inclusion and correct representation of indicators and data from the HIS in relevant strategic policies and guidelines.
– Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility, and contribute to risk-informed approaches to work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to the supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
– Generate guidelines, reports, training documents and visibility materials for HQ, regional and country operations.
– Perform other related duties as required. - Monitoring and Progress Controls
• Evidence of technical review and feedback on country routine report submission through HIS platforms.
• Report progress on work plan for transition from iRHIS to DHIS2, ensuring timely completion of key milestones according to project deliverable checklists and plan.
• Monitor partner (CartONG) performance by reviewing system configuration outputs, data migration and maintenance of UNHCR legacy tools (iRHIS, MRD, BSC, SENS), and provide technical guidance and consolidated feedback to the service provider to ensure adherence to agreed timelines and quality standards.
• Support and make available data to inform UNHCR health programs planning, report generation and evidence making.
• Provide timely technical review, feedback, and input on iRHIS, BSC, MRD, HAUS+, and SENS deliverables, including updated forms, dashboards, and backend configurations.
• Support the timely delivery of internal UNHCR reports including inputs to the Public Health Annual Survey, Public Health Inclusion Survey, and Health Annual Reporting. - Qualifications and Experience
a. Education
• University degree (or equivalent) Medicine, Medical Science, Nursing,
• Public Health, Epidemiology, Statistics, or another relevant field. - Work Experience
Required:
• At least 6 years of relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree.
• Clinical background, qualified public health specialist and epidemiological expertise.
• Work experience in low- and middle-income countries with refugees and other forcibly displaced persons.
• Relevant research experience, including proven ability to design and lead studies, analyze data, and serve as primary author or co‑author of peer‑reviewed publications or technical reports.
• Experience with the compilation and analysis of large datasets from multiple sources.
• Expertise and experience configuring and managing Health Information Systems, including DHIS2, community Health Information Systems.
Desirable:
• Expertise and experience in data science and statistical analysis, including the use of tools such as Power BI, STATA, SPSS, and other related data systems and analytical platforms.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of health and nutrition programmes and projects.
• Experience in capacity building, including training and mentoring staff on HIS, data management, or public health tools.
• Expertise and experience with cloud‑based architectures, server environments, and hosting solutions (e.g., configuring, maintaining, or supporting DHIS2 or similar systems on cloud or local servers).
- Key Competencies
Required:
• Strong analytical and report-writing skills for evaluating and communicating complex data and findings.
• Strong logical thinking capacity and organizational skills.
• Team player with a service-oriented attitude, dedicated to supporting collaborative and efficient operations.
• Professional competence in English (oral and written).
Desired:
• Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills to deal with persons of various professional and cultural backgrounds.
• Knowledge of French is a strong asset.
Note: The selection process for this position may include a written examination.
Application instructions
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