Associate Director - Vector Borne Diseases

Overview

Vector Borne Diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, visceral leishmaniasis (VL, also called kala-azar), lymphatic filariasis (LF), dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis remain major public health concerns in India. India has achieved remarkable reductions in VBD cases and deaths over recent decades. Malaria cases have reduced from 75 million at the time of India’s independence to ~200,00 in , while deaths have reduced from 800,000 to 83 during the same period. For LF, though active transmission and infection rates have declined, the chronic manifestations remain significant. India reported about ~600,00 lymphoedema cases and ~125,000 hydrocele cases caused by filarial worms in 2023. For VL, cases have reduced to ~500 in 2023. The Government of India has committed to the elimination of several VBDs within defined timelines- for example, eliminating malaria by 2030 and lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar ahead of global targets.

Despite these gains, these illnesses continue to contribute substantially to disease burden, morbidity, mortality and disability, particularly among populations living in rural, remote, or otherwise underserved areas. Climate change, urbanization, migration, environmental factors, and gaps in vector control and surveillance continue to challenge disease elimination efforts.

The National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) is the nodal agency under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) responsible for orchestrating the government’s response to VBDs. Its roles include policy formulation, standard setting, strategic planning (including disease elimination timelines), surveillance strengthening, capacity building, coordinating multi-sectoral and inter-governmental efforts, and deploying innovations in vector control, diagnostics, and community engagement.

Project Background :

WJCF is privileged to support NVBDCP's bold vision of accelerated elimination of VL, LF, and Malaria through embedded technical support units (TSU) for VL and LF since 2020, and for malaria since 2024. These TSUs provide support to the NCVBDC including, inter alia :

• Strengthened technical and managerial support to NVBDCP management
• Enhanced disease intelligence and analytics for improved programmatic decisions-making
• Adoption of dynamic innovations across disease portfolios, and, effective and sustained investments in the space of NTDs / VBDs
• Steering partnerships and multi-sector response

WJCF’s VBD portfolio also extends to sub-national implementation in Maharashtra for the Malaria-Free Gadchiroli Program, and in Karnataka for use of AI-enabled predictive analytics for dengue prevention.

Position Summary :

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding public health credentials and demonstrated management abilities to lead the VBD team’s efforts across multiple grants and workstreams. The Program Director will lead the VBD TSU in Delhi and state teams in Maharashtra and Karnataka, and provide overall technical oversight over the VBD portfolio. They will be the principal interface with donors, NCVBDC leadership and program partners on behalf of the project, and will therefore need exceptional people skills and ability to align multitude of stakeholders. They will have demonstrated analytical skills and problem solving in complex environments to effectively shape policy and implementation Program Director will report to the Director, NCVBDC for functioning of the TSU and to Deputy Director, TB and VBD at WJCF for project delivery.

Responsibilities

1. Program Management and Leadership

2. Relationship Management

3. Strategic communication

4. People Management

5. Financial Management

6. Problem Solving

7. Technical Expertise

Qualifications

Last Date to Apply : 9th November, 2025

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