Médecins Sans Frontières Is Hiring: Epidemiologist Role in Kano, Nigeria

About Médecins Sans Frontières WACA In Nigeria Limited by Guarantee (MSF WACA)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is a private, non-profit international humanitarian organization dedicated to providing medical assistance to populations in crisis, without discrimination and regardless of race, religion, gender, creed, or political affiliation.

Epidemiologist Job Summary (Kano)

This Epidemiologist job in Kano is a contract role open to medical doctors, nurses, or biomedical scientists with a postgraduate degree in epidemiology and at least 2 years of field epidemiology experience. MSF WACA is recruiting for this role to lead outbreak investigation, surveillance, and data analysis, with a specific focus on maintaining the project’s diphtheria surveillance system. It’s a strong fit for field epidemiologists with outbreak response experience, strong data skills in R, Excel, or Stata, and ideally Hausa language ability.

Quick Facts

• Job Title: Epidemiologist
• Company: Médecins Sans Frontières WACA In Nigeria Limited by Guarantee (MSF WACA)
• Location: Kano
• Employment Type: Contract
• Application Deadline: 27th October, 2026

About the Role

The Epidemiologist carries out key epidemiological activities in outbreak investigation and response, implements and maintains surveillance systems for outbreak-prone diseases, and supports operational decision-making with data. The role also covers staff supervision and training, with support from the HQ epidemiologist.

Core Job Functions for This Epidemiologist Role

• Outbreak Investigation: Carry out epidemiological activities in outbreak investigation (time, place, people, with emphasis on mapping) and advise on the operational response.
• Surveillance Systems: Implement and maintain a surveillance system to monitor trends of outbreak-prone diseases, and guide medical staff on case definitions, active case finding, and data recording.
• Assessments & Surveys: Monitor and implement initial emergency assessments, rapid health assessments, and baseline or follow-up surveys, developing and pilot-testing protocols where standard ones are unavailable.
• Documentation: Prepare and adapt survey forms, training materials, letters, and consent forms, and prepare sampling frames and selection guidelines with HQ support.
• Staff Management: Plan and supervise HR processes for staff under your responsibility, including recruitment, induction, training, and evaluation.
• Data & Reporting: Manage data systems, ensure high-quality databases, analyse results, and prepare regular reports for the medical coordinator, HQ, and external collaborators (MoH, other NGOs).
• Training: Provide epidemiology training sessions to medical teams.

Specific Responsibilities

• Diphtheria Surveillance: Maintain the project diphtheria surveillance system using an individual line list covering the IDH, decentralized sites, HBC, and referrals, ensuring standard case definitions, timely data entry, validation, deduplication, and weekly data quality checks.
• Patient Follow-Up: Ensure every patient can be followed from detection to final outcome, including referrals, HBC follow-up visits, losses to follow-up, and deaths, through record linkage and regular reconciliation between sites.
• Epidemiological Updates: Produce daily updates and the weekly sitrep (trends by time, LGA and ward, age group, vaccination status, laboratory results, and case fatality) and maintain the project dashboard.
• Mapping: Map cases at ward level, identify transmission hotspots, and provide evidence for positioning decentralized care sites, active case finding, community surveillance, and vaccination targeting.
• Death Reviews: Organize and document structured reviews of deaths with the medical team and follow up on corrective actions.
• Contact Tracing: Support health promotion and community teams in community-based alert, case referral, and close contact tracing, and monitor contact follow-up, prophylaxis, and vaccination indicators.
• Laboratory Monitoring: Monitor sample collection, confirmation results, and turnaround times, and link laboratory results to final case classification.
• Vaccination Analysis: Support analysis of vaccination coverage and campaign data and contribute to planning and monitoring of vaccination activities with the MoH, KNCDC, and partners.
• Coordination: Maintain data exchange and reconciliation with KNCDC, the State Epidemiologist, and SORMAS, take part in coordination meetings, and represent the project on epidemiological matters when delegated.
• Team Development: Supervise, train, and coach data and surveillance staff, and develop SOPs, data dictionaries, and analysis templates (Excel, Kobo Toolbox).
• Research & Ethics: Contribute to data collection and analysis for surveys and operational research in line with MSF ethics requirements, and apply MSF data protection and patient confidentiality rules.

Why This Epidemiologist Job Stands Out

This role offers:

• Hands-on frontline experience in a live diphtheria outbreak response with a leading humanitarian organization
• Close collaboration with KNCDC, the State Epidemiologist, SORMAS, and state health authorities
• Support from an HQ epidemiologist on protocols, sampling, and documentation
• The chance to supervise, train, and build the capacity of surveillance and data teams
• Exposure to GIS mapping, vaccination analysis, and operational research

Requirements

Education:

• Medical doctor (preferable), nurse, or biomedical scientist with a postgraduate degree in epidemiology (MSc, or MPH with an epidemiology major), or a graduate of an advanced Field Epidemiology Training Programme (NFELTP or equivalent)

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of field epidemiology experience, including outbreak investigation and response
• Experience with diphtheria or other vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks is a strong asset
• Working knowledge of surveillance systems in Nigeria (IDSR, SORMAS, DHIS2) and collaboration with State MoH and NCDC structures
• Experience supervising and training data or surveillance staff
• Previous experience with MSF or another humanitarian organisation is an asset

Knowledge:

• Advanced Excel and at least one statistical package (R preferred; Stata, Epi Info, or SPSS)
• Mobile data collection tools (Kobo Toolbox or ODK)
• GIS mapping (QGIS) is an asset
• Principles of health data protection and confidentiality

Computer Literacy: Proficiency in Word and Excel is required.

Languages: English required; Hausa strongly desirable.

Competencies and Qualities: Result and quality orientation, teamwork and cooperation, behavioural flexibility, service orientation, stress management, and commitment to MSF Principles.

How to Apply for This Epidemiologist Job

Interested and qualified candidates should click here to apply online.
Application Deadline: 27th October, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions About This Epidemiologist Job

Q: What qualifications are needed for this Epidemiologist job?
A: A medical doctor (preferable), nurse, or biomedical scientist with a postgraduate degree in epidemiology (MSc or MPH with an epidemiology major) or an advanced Field Epidemiology Training Programme (NFELTP or equivalent), plus at least 2 years of field epidemiology experience including outbreak response.

Q: Where is this Epidemiologist job located?
A: The role is based in Kano and is a contract position.

Q: What does this role involve day-to-day?
A: The role covers maintaining the diphtheria surveillance system, producing daily updates and weekly sitreps, mapping cases and hotspots, supporting contact tracing and vaccination analysis, coordinating with KNCDC and SORMAS, and supervising and training surveillance staff.

Q: Is Hausa required?
A: English is required and Hausa is strongly desirable.

Q: How do I apply, and when is the deadline?
A: Apply online by clicking the application link before the deadline of 27th October, 2026. Note that this date is today, so candidates should apply immediately.

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