Medicines And Local Production Officer - (SSA -NO-B)

Organizational Context

The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in South Africa is responsible for supporting the national health agenda. This role operates within the Health Systems Strengthening and Services Cluster, contributing to the enhancement of pharmaceutical systems and local production of essential health technologies within the country.

Job Purpose

The Medicines and Local Production Officer will play a crucial role in strengthening South Africa's pharmaceutical systems and promoting local production of medicines and health technologies. This involves supporting the development and implementation of national strategies, providing technical assistance to government institutions and regulatory bodies, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. The objective is to enhance access to quality-assured health products by improving manufacturing ecosystems, regulatory oversight, and supply chain efficiency. The role contributes to WHO's broader mission of advancing health equity and ensuring universal access to essential medicines.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include supporting the development and implementation of national strategies and roadmaps for local production of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, and health technologies. The officer will provide technical assistance to government institutions to strengthen pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystems and improve access to quality-assured health products. This involves supporting regulatory systems strengthening, including WHO Global Benchmarking Tool assessments and GMP oversight. The role also entails convening and facilitating technical consultations, policy dialogues, and stakeholder engagements to foster collaboration between government, industry, academia, and development partners. Additionally, the officer will support assessments of manufacturing capacities, technology transfer opportunities, and supply chain bottlenecks, analyze evidence to inform policy decisions, and prepare various technical reports and documents. Monitoring implementation progress and organizing capacity-building activities are also key duties.

Work Experience

Essential: A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional experience in pharmaceutical systems, medicines regulation, pharmaceutical manufacturing, health technologies, or public health. Demonstrated experience working with government institutions, regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical manufacturers, development partners, or international organizations. Desirable: Experience with WHO or other UN agencies, supporting regulatory systems strengthening, GMP compliance, pharmaceutical production, technology transfer, policy development, programme implementation, stakeholder engagement, resource mobilization, and project management.

Skills

Strong knowledge of pharmaceutical systems and medicines policy; understanding of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, GMP, quality assurance, and regulatory systems; knowledge of pharmaceutical supply chains and access to medicines; ability to analyze complex technical information and translate it into policy recommendations; strong report-writing, analytical, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, project management, coordination, presentation, and negotiation skills; core competencies include teamwork, communication, interpersonal skills, diversity awareness, results orientation, partnership building, resource management, and adaptability.

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