USAID’s Global Health Security (GHSec) portfolio works to strengthen countries’ multisectoral capacities to reduce the risk and impact of emerging and reemerging disease threats that are of greatest public health concern. The program emphasizes country capacity building and systems strengthening in a series of critical health security technical areas, including zoonotic disease prevention and control, national laboratory systems, infectious disease surveillance, health workforce, risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial resistance. These capacities are multisectoral in nature, including the public health, animal health, and environmental sectors in a One Health approach. Activities are implemented at the national, subnational, and community levels. GHSec embraces the One Health approach, recognizing the critical role that wildlife, livestock, other domestic animals, and the environment play in emerging zoonotic diseases with epidemic and pandemic potential and antimicrobial resistance.
Other important aspects of the GHSec program include the identification and minimizing of zoonotic disease spillover risks at their source in animals and a comprehensive approach to antimicrobial resistance that includes the livestock, agriculture, and environment sectors.
USAID’s GHSec portfolio also leverages other USAID programs in the areas of health system strengthening, food security, economic growth, and disaster assistance. For example, healthy animals provide a safe and nutritious food supply component, as well as jobs and livelihoods, all along the value chain from producer to final consumer. Livestock industries are huge contributors to national economies. Ensuring that animals are safely and economically managed and food is safe for human consumption not only minimizes the risk of transferring zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance but also greatly assists with enhancing partner countries’ capacity for agricultural development and participation in international trade. Other Global Health infectious diseases initiatives such as malaria, tuberculosis, PEPFAR, and neglected tropical diseases also contribute to reaching GHSec targets.
The GHSec Lead Advisor will support USAID’s contribution to the Global Health Security global initiative that was launched in 2014. The GHSec’s goal is to advance a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats and to elevate global health security as a national leaders-level priority. The GHSec supports technical areas that work across human health, animal health, and other sectors to help countries to achieve GHSec objectives and to meet country requirements for the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) and related animal health regulations. Progress toward achieving the GHSec targets and objectives is measured by WHO’s Joint External Evaluation (JEE), a tool that consolidates the GHSec and IHR metrics into specific technical areas.
Under the direct supervision of the Health Office Director or their designee, Infectious Diseases Team Lead, the GHSec Lead Advisor is responsible for leading USAID’s contributions to GHSec in collaboration with USAID/Washington’s GHS Team. The GHSec Lead Advisor will coordinate USAID partners, provide recommendations regarding GHSec challenges, ensure effective implementation of GHSec projects, build relationships with Government of Ghana (GoG) counterparts, and liaise with multiple inter-agency, USAID/Washington, and regional counterparts involved in GHSec. Strong interpersonal skills as well as spoken and written communication abilities, are required. The incumbent will also supervise one or more Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs).
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