Oficial de Soporte en Salud (Salud Materno Infantil)
Organizational Context
UNICEF, established in 1946 and a permanent UN body since 1953, is dedicated to upholding the rights of all children, especially the most vulnerable. In Mexico, UNICEF has partnered with the government and civil society since 1954 to ensure children's rights are guaranteed. The organization prioritizes reaching disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. Despite progress in maternal and neonatal care, significant disparities persist, particularly affecting indigenous women, adolescents, migrants, and those in marginalized areas. UNICEF's Country Program (2026-2031) focuses on the first thousand days of life, integrating maternal, perinatal, and neonatal health, nutrition, and early childhood development.
Job Purpose
This role supports UNICEF Mexico's Health and Nutrition section, focusing on improving maternal, perinatal, and neonatal health outcomes. The assignment aims to strengthen the Mexican government's institutional capacities in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating health interventions. The volunteer will provide specialized technical advice to the Ministry of Health, particularly the National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health (CNEGSR) and priority states. Key objectives include addressing persistent structural gaps in care that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, reducing preventable maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, and enhancing the quality of immediate perinatal care. The role also involves improving neonatal screening programs and ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment for disabilities, aligning national efforts with WHO/PAHO recommendations and UNICEF's country program goals.
Responsibilities
The Health Support Officer will advise on the development, review, and updating of technical guidelines, manuals, and policy documents for maternal, perinatal, and neonatal health, ensuring quality, timeliness, equity, and rights-based approaches, aligned with current regulations. Responsibilities include technically contributing to the guiding document and operational instruments for the First 1000 Days Program, ensuring intersectoral coordination and alignment with WHO/PAHO recommendations. The role involves developing and documenting an indicator matrix for maternal, perinatal, and neonatal health interventions, analyzing official data sources for monitoring and accountability, and proposing improvements. Support will be provided for analyzing neonatal screening program performance and proposing mechanisms for early disability detection and management. The officer will contribute to technical analysis of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality data for evidence-based decision-making and support training activities for health personnel. Implementation support in priority states, documentation of progress, challenges, and best practices, and preparation of technical documents and reports are also key duties. Collaboration on other assigned tasks is expected.
Work Experience
A minimum of 7 years of professional experience is required, with at least 6 years in coordinating, planning, implementing, monitoring, and/or evaluating maternal, perinatal, neonatal, or child health programs. Proven experience in developing or reviewing technical guidelines or norms at the federal level is essential. Experience in indicator development, logical framework methodology, results-based budgeting, and public policy evaluation is necessary. Experience with maternal and perinatal morbidity/mortality committees and technical coordination of inter-institutional initiatives in the public sector is also required. Knowledge of the Mexican National Health System and its official information sources is crucial. Strong technical writing and communication skills, along with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office and data analysis tools, are expected.
Skills
Core Values: Care, Responsibility, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability. Essential Competencies: Establishing and maintaining partnerships, demonstrating self-awareness and ethical awareness, striving for tangible results, innovating and embracing change, mastering ambiguity and complexity, thinking and acting strategically, and working collaboratively. Areas of expertise include Community Development, Emergency Preparedness, and Crisis Response.