Job Description

Overview

:

Vector Borne Diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, visceral leishmaniasis (VL, also called kala-azar), lymphatic filariasis (LF), dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis remain major public health concerns in India.

India has achieved remarkable reductions in VBD cases and deaths over recent decades. Malaria cases have reduced from 75 million at the time of India’s independence to ~200,00 in 2023-24, while deaths have reduced from 800,000 to 83 during the same period. For LF, though active transmission and infection rates have declined, the chronic manifestations remain significant. India reported about ~600,00 lymphoedema cases and ~125,000 hydrocele cases caused by filarial worms in 2023. For VL, cases have reduced to ~500 in 2023. The Government of India has committed to the elimination of several VBDs within defined timelines- for example, eliminating malaria by 2030 and lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar ahead of global targets.

Despite these gains, these illnesses continue to contribute substantially to disease burden, morbidity, mortality and disability, particularly among populations living in rural, remote, or otherwise underserved areas. Climate change, urbanization, migration, environmental factors, and gaps in vector control and surveillance continue to challenge disease elimination efforts.

The National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) is the nodal agency under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) responsible for orchestrating the government’s response to VBDs. Its roles include policy formulation, standard setting, strategic planning (including disease elimination timelines), surveillance strengthening, capacity building, coordinating multi-sectoral and inter-governmental efforts, and deploying innovations in vector control, diagnostics, and community engagement.

Project Background:

WJCF is privileged to support NVBDCP's bold vision of accelerated elimination of VL and LF through an embedded technical support unit (TSU) since 2020. This TSU provides support to the NCVBDC including, inter alia:

  • Strengthened technical and managerial support to NVBDCP management
  • Enhanced disease intelligence and analytics for improved programmatic decisions-making
  • Adoption of dynamic innovations across disease portfolios, and, effective and sustained investments in the space of NTDs/VBDs
  • Steering partnerships and multi-sector response

    • Position Summary:

    WJCF is seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding credentials and demonstrated M&E abilities to work within NCVBDC. The M&E Associate will provide technical support in strengthening quality, program management including M&E, to facilitate data-driven decision-making, strengthening data recording and reporting mechanisms and support governance and capacity building initiatives. They would also deliver critical and on-demand program insights by leveraging multiple data sources and field insights. They will support data collation, analysis and visualization and identification of innovative approaches/technologies to support the elimination goals. The Associate will report to the Lead for the VBD TSU.

    Responsibilities
  • Develop and socialize pre-defined and custom-defined reports and dashboards for NCVBDC, state, and sub-state functionaries to utilize for routine program planning, decision-making, monitoring and management.
  • Collaborate with partner institutes of excellence for innovating new approaches for generating insights for the program, including predictive modeling and machine learning.
  • Shape the approach and attitude towards data in NCVBDC by exploring multi-thematic use cases, such as HR availability and capacity, supply chain management of VBD control commodities, service delivery effectiveness etc.
  • Under the guidance of program and TSU leadership, undertake systematic assessment of the existing surveillance framework, including data pipelines and reporting structures to identify gaps and suggest process improvement strategies.
  • Build buy-in for developing tools such as surveillance data quality assurance framework, and decision support tools for state, district, block and village level key performance indicators.
  • Develop technical briefs and fact sheets to communicate key findings and suggestions across a matrixed government organization.
  • Support the documentation of program progress through reports, presentations, and templates for effective internal use and dissemination of reports at the state and national levels.
  • Support capacity building of NCVBDC staff on relevant competencies for sustained ownership and delivery.
  • Undertake periodic visits to States/UTs and districts to identify challenges and address gaps.
  • Work closely with VBD team to align priorities, and develop and manage relationships with diverse stakeholders.
  • Undertake other responsibilities as needed.
    • Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in public health, epidemiology, economics, sociology or other relevant fields with 6 years of professional experience; or master’s degree with minimum 4 year of professional experience.
  • Professional experience in a dynamic and innovative work environment, inter alia, life science research, impact evaluation, development consulting, public sector advisory.
  • Experience working with health department data for routine national-level or state-level M&E, or for sizeable government health programs.
  • High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Working knowledge of advanced statistical tools and conceptual knowledge of new data paradigms (machine learning, AI) will be preferred.
  • Ability to work independently in high-pressure and unstructured settings, to work closely within and across other teams and to adapt to new environments and challenges.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, problem-solving and strong organizational abilities and detail-oriented approach.
  • Willingness to travel frequently (~20-30% time).

    • Last Date to Apply: 6th February, 2026

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