Consultant - Senior Surveillance and Climate-Health

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PATH is a global nonprofit dedicated to achieving health equity. With more than 40 years of experience forging multisector partnerships and with expertise in science, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales up innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing heath challenges. 

In India, PATH outlines its goal of providing all Indians with equitable access to high-quality primary healthcare for the most common communicable, non-communicable, and occupational diseases as well as for reproductive, maternal, child, and adolescent health issues. To make long-lasting changes to health systems, PATH collaborates with the governments of numerous states, non-profits, the commercial sector, regulatory agencies, and international organizations.

Project specifications

Puri, a major coastal and pilgrimage city in Odisha, faces distinct urban health challenges shaped by its dense population of about 291,000 across 32 wards, rapid urbanization, large daily tourist inflow, and high environmental vulnerability. The city receives around 25,000 visitors daily, rising to 500,000–700,000 during festivals like Rath Yatra, putting immense pressure on sanitation, water supply, and healthcare systems. Informal settlements and many households still lack safe sanitation, with insanitary toilets, poor waste disposal, and limited sewer connectivity contributing to recurring waterborne diseases, while high groundwater levels worsen septage management risks. Solid and liquid waste management remain critical concerns due to inadequate collection, public participation issues, and frequent dumping, further compounded by tourism-driven waste and temporary settlements. Additionally, Puri’s coastal location makes it highly susceptible to cyclones, flooding, and seasonal spikes in vector-borne and communicable diseases, underscoring the urgent need to climate-proof essential health infrastructure and services.

In this context, PATH, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is developing a City Health Action Plan (CHAP) for Puri, Odisha to strengthen urban health systems and guide coordinated action across government departments and stakeholders. CHAP aims to serve as a strategic blueprint that identifies priority health needs, maps service and infrastructure gaps, and proposes actionable, multi-sectoral interventions. It will integrate themes such as service delivery improvement, community engagement, digital health innovations, climate and disaster resilience, and governance strengthening. The plan is envisioned to support the city administration in making data-driven decisions, enhancing resource alignment, and improving accountability mechanisms.

Scope of Services

• Bring technical expertise on climate-health priorities, vulnerabilities, and systemic bottlenecks.
• Ensuring that climate-sensitive health risks, air quality management strategies, and disease surveillance are integrated into CHAP’s design.
• Co-facilitating stakeholder consultations with government departments, urban local bodies, community representatives, and civil society organizations.
• Inputs to the CHAP Playbook for the Ministry of Health — a standardized, step-by-step operational guide documenting the methodology, tools, and process used for replication in other cities
• Contributing substantive technical inputs to the CHAP document and the accompanying CHAP Playbook for national dissemination.

Deliverable

Preparation of a narrative report/ presentation containing inputs on CHAP and playbook

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's degree or higher in Public Health, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Health Policy, Urban Health, or a related field.
• At least 12-15 years of proven experience in program planning and implementation in urban settings, stakeholder engagement, and supporting urban health interventions, including engagement with urban local bodies.
• Demonstrated expertise in disease surveillance systems, climate-health risk assessments, and integrating climate and health considerations into public health programming.
• Strong skills in research, policy analysis, report writing, and presentation of findings; ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Prior experience with development agencies or urban health missions in Asia, particularly India, is desirable.
• Strong communication and writing skills in English, with attention to detail and quality.