Migration Health and AVRR Physician

About the role

IOM, the UN agency for migration, is recruiting a Migration Health and AVRR Physician. Under the supervision of the Chief of Mission and the migration health supervisor, with technical supervision from the Chief Migration Health Officer or Regional Health Assessment Programme Coordinator, the physician conducts migration health assessments and provides medical support for AVRR (Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration) cases. Internal and external candidates are considered.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct migration health assessments, including medical history, physical examination and review of clinical records, and arrange or review investigations such as laboratory tests and imaging.
• Identify conditions needing treatment, referral, stabilization or follow-up and coordinate care with health facilities and treating physicians.
• Support vaccination, tuberculosis management, pre-departure medical procedures and other health interventions.
• Ensure correct identification of migrants and complete, accurate and timely medical documentation, certification and data entry in IOM systems.
• Review AVRR cases with known or suspected medical conditions, assess decision-making capacity, fitness to travel and medical feasibility of return, and recommend additional assessment when information is insufficient.
• Determine required medical travel conditions (escort, wheelchair, additional seats, stretcher, oxygen, medications, supplies, family support) and review proposed itineraries from a medical perspective.
• Complete airline medical forms such as MEDA or MEDIF, and coordinate with AVRR, Operations, Migration Health and counterparts in the country of return.
• Brief medical escorts, coordinate escort supplies, review escort reports and incidents, and apply infection prevention, patient safety, confidentiality, informed consent and ethical standards.
• Contribute to quality assurance through case review, record checks, data analysis and incident follow-up, maintain case records and statistics, and prepare routine or ad hoc reports.

Required profile

• University degree in Medicine from an accredited institution; a valid licence to practise medicine in the duty-station country is mandatory.
• At least two years of relevant clinical experience, preferably in emergency medicine, internal medicine or a multidisciplinary hospital setting.
• Experience in medical assessments, medical reports and coordinating referrals or patient care.
• Desirable: migration health, humanitarian health, resettlement health or AVRR programming experience, and experience with fitness-to-travel assessment, medical movement support or continuity-of-care planning.
• Fluency in English and French (oral and written); knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.

Required skills

• Good knowledge of clinical medicine, patient safety and infection prevention and control.
• Ability to make sound clinical decisions and document the rationale for recommendations.
• Strong coordination and communication skills with health facilities, operations teams and cross-border counterparts.
• Understanding of in-flight physiology or aviation medicine is an advantage.