Head of Division at National Health Laboratory Services

Key Job Responsibilities 

• Provide strategic leadership to foster coherence and collaboration across the Division and Centres to align organisational priorities to strengthen national and global health security Leads the development of a clear departmental vision in alignment with organisational strategy to ensure effective direction, management, and accountability of the specific programme areas managed by the incumbent in delivering its objectives Builds new or strengthens existing partnerships with the National Department of Health, Provincial Departments of Health, World Health Organization, Africa CDC, CDC-USA, CDC-Europe, Funders, universities/research institutions and other stakeholders to position the technical area of work and implementation into National and/or Global health security policies
• Responsible for outbreak detection, investigation and response in partnership with the district and provincial departments of health Lead and coordinate the NICD’s participation in the IHR-related activities and National Action Plans for Health Security  Represent the Division/NICD in global forums to position the area of work in the regional and global health community Ensure the development, maintenance, and enhancements of surveillance and reporting of communicable disease public health surveillance related to prioritised disease surveillance, including the GERMS platform; Notifiable Medical Conditions; Event-based surveillance and other relevant surveillance systems to ensure rapid detection and response to specific infectious hazards
• Direct the training and capacity-building initiatives for healthcare professionals in epidemic and pandemic response to specific infectious hazards Responsible for communication across the NICD Centres, with National and Provincial Departments of Health and other stakeholders through routine communication, leading the development of guidelines, implementation and dissemination of technical guidelines, comprehensive epidemic and pandemic preparedness plans, maintenance of website and other communication channels Lead and coordinate resource mobilisation efforts (funding, staffing) to strengthen the Division’s priorities, operational needs and budgets Oversee the implementation of health, safety and environmental requirements to ensure the implementation of all necessary processes, procedures and legislation . 

Minimum Requirements and Key Competency 

• MBCHB with PHD or MMED or FCPath ( Clinical Microbiology / Virology / Infectious Diseases/ Public Health)HPCSA registered 13 to 15 years Management experience preferably in a public health institution 8 to 10 years communicable diseases / public health experience / epidemiology / infectious diseases )