Tobacco Surveillance Officer

Host entity: WHO

Volunteer type: International

Areas of expertise: Public health, immunisation, Administration, Information technology and telecommunications

Application deadline: 13/08/2026

Mission and objectives

Founded in 1948, WHO is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners, and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health.

The WHO's mandate seeks and includes working worldwide to promote health, keeping the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. It advocates that a billion more people should have: universal health care coverage, engagement with the monitoring of public health risks, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and promoting health and well-being. It provides technical assistance to countries, sets international health standards, and collects data on global health issues.

Assignment context

The Health Promotion, Social Determinants, Equity, Tobacco Control, Risk Communication and Community Engagement, Behavioural Science, and Urban Health (HPD) Programme is part of the Disease Prevention and Control (DPC) Cluster. The Programme supports Member States in integrating health promotion, social determinants of health, risk communication, community engagement, behavioural science, and tobacco control into national policies and strategies. Its work aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the Fourteenth General Programme of Work (GPW14), and the DPC strategic agenda.

The DPC Cluster drives the attainment of relevant SDG targets in the WHO African Region by supporting Member States through integrated, multisectoral, equity-based, and people-centred approaches to disease prevention, health promotion, and health system strengthening. Its strategic priorities include: (i) generating and disseminating evidence to inform health priorities and investments; (ii) facilitating the development, adoption, and use of WHO normative guidance and technical products; (iii) promoting the integration of innovative technologies into health systems, including point-of-care technologies within primary health care; and (iv) strengthening institutional capacity to deliver sustainable technical support.

The overall objective of the HPD Programme is to provide leadership and technical support to Member States to promote health and well-being, improve equitable access to quality health services, address the social, economic, commercial, political, and cultural determinants of health, reduce stigma and discrimination affecting vulnerable populations, and strengthen tobacco control to reduce tobacco-related morbidity, mortality, and disability. This is achieved through the implementation of the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach, using whole-of-government and whole-of-society strategies to advance Universal Health Coverage and the SDGs.

Within the DPC Cluster and the HPD Unit, the International UN Volunteer Specialist supports the coordination and implementation of regional initiatives related to tobacco control, health promotion, and disease prevention. The incumbent provides technical and operational support to the HPD Unit, including the Tobacco Control Project Team and Team Leader, with a particular focus on coordinating the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS), alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) surveys, monitoring key health promotion and tobacco control indicators, analysing trends, and assessing programme performance.

Under the overall supervision of the Team Leader, HPD, and the direct supervision of the Senior Project Officer, Africa Tobacco Control Project, the incumbent collaborates with technical clusters and programmes to coordinate tobacco surveillance and related activities, support planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of regional work programmes, strengthen knowledge generation and evidence-informed decision-making, and monitor programme progress across Member States.

Task description

The incumbent will be expected to perform the following duties:

• Provide technical support to Member States in the planning and implementation, including the design of tools and protocols of youth and adult tobacco-related surveys, and in building efficient, systematic surveillance mechanisms to monitor the tobacco epidemic, including new and emerging tobacco and nicotine products.
• Support Member States in the collection of alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs ) data for the global reports
• Support Member States in the analysis of survey data and the development, implementation, and evaluation of effective data dissemination mechanisms related to tobacco surveillance.
• Support the collection and validation of data and other related information for the World Health Organization (WHO ) global report on the tobacco epidemic and the WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2030.
• Support the Tobacco Control team in regional tobacco control policy and data analysis including development of technical materials such as project progress reports, documents, factsheets, presentations, guides, tools, and advocacy materials on tobacco control and emerging tobacco and nicotine products and assist with their dissemination and use in the Region.
• Support development of manuscript to publish project lessons
• Actively participate in relevant working groups, technical meetings, and forums, and contribute to the preparation of technical and administrative reports and analyses on tobacco-related issues.
• Perform any other related duties as assigned.

Skills and experience

Essential: At least 3 years of national or international experience in public health, epidemiology, public policy, or socio-economic development.

Desirable:
• Experience in managing or working with public health data related to risk factors, health outcomes, and health policies.
• Experience working with the World Health Organization (WHO), other United Nations (UN ) agencies, or international organizations.
• Experience working in developing countries.

Functional Knowledge and Skills
• Strong knowledge of public health data collection, surveillance methodologies, and data analysis techniques.
• Solid understanding of global tobacco control strategies, including the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC ) and MPOWER measures.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills, including the ability to prepare high-quality reports, technical documents, and policy briefs, as well as lead presentations and workshops.
• Proven ability to meet deadlines, deliver results under pressure, and contribute to innovative and practical solutions.
• Proficiency in the use of standard office software (e.g., Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint), with experience in statistical or data visualization tools considered an asset.
• Proven ability to work with competing priorities under pressure.


*UNV encourages applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds and seeks to attract a diverse pool of applicants, including candidates from underrepresented nationalities, particularly from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Lusophone countries.

Competencies and values

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Producing results
• Ensuring the effective use of resources
• Promoting Innovation and Organizational Learning.

Living conditions

Uganda is a peaceful country, although everyone is advised to be security conscious. The duty station presents relatively good living conditions with adequate housing facilities (houses and apartments) readily available to rent, and with most of the economic and social amenities also available at affordable cost.

Full eligibility requirements, conditions of service and application instructions are available on the official UNV platform.