Technical Officer – Pharmacovigilance

About the role

The World Health Organization (WHO) seeks an International UN Volunteer Technical Officer to strengthen pharmacovigilance systems across the WHO Africa Region. Working under regional and headquarters guidance, you will support Member States in implementing WHO’s smart pharmacovigilance strategy and improving medicine and vaccine safety monitoring.

Key responsibilities

• Assist countries in applying WHO pharmacovigilance guidance, tools, and protocols.
• Conduct system assessments, develop improvement plans, and support implementation.
• Coordinate with WHO Collaborating Centres, national regulatory authorities, and public‑health programmes.
• Facilitate use of WHO platforms such as VigiFlow, VigiLyze, and VigiMobile.
• Promote regional collaboration, information sharing, reliance mechanisms, and joint safety reviews.
• Support detection, assessment, and response to medicine and vaccine safety signals.
• Build national capacity in adverse‑event reporting, causality assessment, and safety data analysis.
• Encourage innovative approaches, including artificial‑intelligence applications, in pharmacovigilance activities.

Required profile

• Master’s degree in pharmaceuticals, pharmacology, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmaceutical sciences or a related field.
• Minimum 7 years of professional experience in pharmacovigilance, regulatory science, or medicine/vaccine safety.
• Experience supporting national health authorities, especially in low‑ and middle‑income countries, is desirable.
• Strong knowledge of medicine and vaccine safety monitoring, signal detection, risk management, and data analysis.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, facilitation, communication, and capacity‑building skills.
• Fluency in English; working knowledge of French and/or Portuguese is a plus.

Required skills

• VigiFlow
• VigiLyze
• VigiMobile

What we offer

• Standard UN Volunteer package for an International Expert Volunteer, including living allowance, insurance, leave and other entitlements according to UNV Conditions of Service.