Context
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH - founded as OIE) is a leading intergovernmental organisation representing 183 Members worldwide. Through its activities, WOAH makes a decisive contribution to improving animal health, protecting animal welfare and strengthening Veterinary Services. The Organisation provides transparent information on world's animal health situation, and promotes international standards, particularly in terms of the safety of trade in live animals and animal products. More information can be found on WOAH's website (https://www.woah.org/).
Joining WOAH means taking part in the development of one of the leading international organisations, recognised and associated with other multilateral institutions, in the field of worldwide health. It means helping to build a global approach to health, combining animal and human health in a "One Health" approach.
To support its work, WOAH may use individual consultants to provide ad hoc support for tasks that cannot be carried out by members of its staff. An individual consultant works in his own name, for the duration of his assignment at WOAH, to the exclusion of any other principal and without being attached to any employer.
WOAH's headquarters are based in Paris. The Organisation is present on every continent through 13 Regional or Sub-regional Representations. WOAH has 250 staff members, two-thirds of whom are based at headquarters.
This position is home-based.
Description of the individual consultant assignment
Reporting
Mission objectives
Backgroung:
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) established a periodic report on the global avian influenza situation in late 2019, followed by a similar report focusing on terrestrial wildlife, where avian influenza is a significant component, in early 2023. Currently, these reports serve as periodic summaries of health events reported to WOAH, offering background information on avian influenza surveillance and its seasonality. They present an overview of the disease's impact on both farmed and wild animals, with a particular emphasis on economic impact on poultry, biodiversity, and endangered species. Primarily designed as scientific communication material, these reports are disseminated via WOAH's website and social media and aid WOAH Members in comprehending global health challenges. Expanding upon this foundation, a comprehensive outreach strategy for the HPAI periodic report was devised in September 2023 to amplify the influence of these periodic reports.
To enhance communication with end users and address their needs effectively, WOAH aims to evaluate the relevance and utility of its reports while exploring avenues for enhancement. WOAH has pinpointed key users of the HPAI periodic report and is initiating a consultation initiative to solicit their feedback on the current situation reports. This feedback was gathered via an online survey, and the result was disseminated during Q2 2024. Subsequently, insights gleaned from this survey was used to refine the situation reports and guide strategies for advancing risk communication, leveraging diverse data sources such as official records and unofficial data from the Open-Source Epidemiological Intelligence System (EIOS (https://www.who.int/initiatives/eios)), pertinent environmental data, and information on wildlife populations and migrations. Furthermore, in 2024, a similar survey was conducted for the wildlife periodic situation reports.
Based on these surveys, WOAH conducts another online consultation to delve deeper into recommended improvements and ascertain any additional needs deemed pertinent to the process, with the general objective to improve early warning and risk communication for HPAI in both poultry and non-poultry including wild birds.
Purpose:
Following this consultation, WOAH would like to launch a consultancy call to improve the tools WOAH uses (EIOS) in epidemic intelligence activities in detecting and collecting relevant non-official information on animal health events, enhancing the WOAH's capacity for the early detection of avian influenza signals, as well as unusual morbidity / mortality and emerging animal health events. The EIOS is the world's leading initiative for open-source intelligence for public health and animal health decision-making. WOAH aims to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the EIOS system in detecting HPAI and unusual morbidity / mortality and emerging animal health events news to support official reporting and trigger activation of WOAH response (e.g. communication with Members, risk communication, activation of WOAH incidence management system).
Objectives:
The objectives of this project are:
- To analyse currently existing algorithm for the detection of news for avian influenza and unusual morbidity / mortality events, as well as emerging animal health threats
- To improve the relevant categories / algorithm in EIOS and / or add new categories, including translation in multiple languages
- To analyse currently available sources that feed news for the categories mentioned above in EIOS, and search and add relevant new sources in the EIOS system, to fill geographical and language gaps
- To test the new categories and sources before their implementation in EIOS production environment
- The work should be completed by 30 November 2026.
Activities and deliverables
Materials and Deliverables:
- EIOS gap analysis report: document on short assessment of current EIOS performance for avian influenza, unusual morbidity / mortality, and emerging events, including system limitation and strengths
- Improved EIOS categories to detect relevant animal health events: document describing the analysis of relevant algorithm for avian influenza and unusual mortality events, operational performance and usefulness for early detection, and suitability for early detection
- Improved specific EIOS categories to detect relevant animal health events: document outlining enhancements to the EIOS categories to improve EIOS sensitivity and specificity for avian influenza-related signals
- Improved EIOS sources to detect relevant animal health events: document of the list and evaluation of potential new data sources (e.g., wildlife surveillance, environmental indicators, or unofficial reports) to be included in the EIOS system.
- Modification, addition and testing of sources and categories: Modification of categories and inclusion of new sources, including testing of the modification, and a short report describing the outcomes of the testing
Requirements
Qualifications and Experience
Qualifications:
- Epidemiologist, with expertise in epidemic intelligence and/or data analysis for animal health or zoonosis, emerging animal health threats, public health emergency communication
- Previous experience in the use of EIOS or other epidemic intelligence systems: experience in data source and algorithm for web scraping, including process automation.
- Writing skills proven by publication of reports or scientific papers.
Expected Skills
- Competencies in veterinary epidemiology
- Experience in epidemic intelligence
- Good computational skills
- Organisational skills
- Good communication skills in English (other WOAH languages appreciated but not required)
- Interpersonal skills: flexibility, capacity to work on short deadline and deliver upon schedule and good data management practices.
The consultant will ensure that all the information handled during the consultancy is treated with highest level of confidentiality and that sensitive information will never be disclosed. All information treated or collected during this consultancy remains under WOAH's ownership.
For complete job description and to apply, visit:
HOW TO APPLY:
If you are interested in the position, please complete your application online at the latest by June, 26th, 2026.
All applications will be reviewed after the closing date of the publication.