Organization: Clinton Health Access Initiative
Country: Panama
Closing date: 12 Aug 2017
Background:
Founded in 2002, by President William J. Clinton and Ira C. Magaziner, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (“CHAI”) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems and expanding access to care and treatment in the developing world. CHAI's solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to lifesaving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs. Since its inception, CHAI's programs have helped more than 11.8 million people in more than 70 countries have access to CHAI-negotiated prices for HIV/AIDS medicines, saving the global health community billions of dollars. For more information, please visit: www.clintonhealthaccess.org.
Malaria is one of the world's most important causes of illness, death and lost economic productivity. Over the past decade, dramatic increases in donor funding have facilitated scale-up of effective interventions to prevent, diagnosis, and treat malaria. This investment has successfully reduced the burden of malaria in many settings, and some countries have begun planning to eliminate it altogether. Yet these gains are fragile: global funding for malaria remains short of what is needed, last decade's rapid growth in malaria financing appears to have halted, and resistance to insecticides and drugs threatens to set back efforts. CHAI's global malaria program provides direct management and technical support to countries around the globe to strengthen their malaria programs and reduce the burden of this preventable, treatable disease. We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria-related illnesses and deaths worldwide in the short-term and accelerating progress towards malaria elimination in the long term.
Overview of Role:
CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to work as part of CHAI's Global Malaria Commodity Access Team supporting Program Support Teams and Country Teams to plan and execute effective programs in the Central America region. Over the last year, CHAI has been rapidly engaging with countries across the region and supported them to make initial but meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards malaria elimination.
One of CHAI's primary areas of focus is providing access to critical malaria commodities, including diagnosis and treatment. As countries move closer to elimination, it becomes imperative that all cases are confirmed by parasitological diagnostic test prior to receiving treatment with antimalarial drugs and subsequently reported into the national surveillance system. While many countries in the region have made great progress to making confirmatory diagnosis available, work remains to promote and ensure access at the community level.
To improve access to these and other commodities in our focus countries Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, the Associate is expected to support the country teams in further developing the elimination strategies tailored to each of the countries and best supporting the teams to execute against these strategies.
The Associate will be part of CHAI's Global Malaria Team, based in Panama and will report directly to the global malaria diagnosis manager. Due to multi-country support function of this role, up to 75% travel is expected. The candidate will work closely with CHAI's other Technical Teams to advance access to prevention and treatment commodities in this region.
The individual will bring a generalist skillset to the team and be willing to take on a variety of tasks ranging from data analytics to guidance for teams on leading workshops with government stakeholders. Examples of the country support include the design and implementation of community health workers expansion or forecasting the multi-year need for malaria commodities; in addition to other commodity access needs (i.e. in prevention) that may arise.
The candidate must be able to work independently to drive implementation and have deep personal commitment to producing results. H/she will bring outstanding analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills, be able to work independently and have deep personal commitment to producing results. CHAI places great value on the resourcefulness, tenacity, patience, humility, and high ethical standards of its staff.
- Develop and maintain strong understanding of the malaria diagnosis and treatment landscape within the Mesoamerica region and identify the highest priority opportunities to improve the quality and coverage of malaria diagnostic and treatment services offered
- Map coverage and quality of diagnostic and treatment services throughout national health systems in Mesoamerica countries
- Participate in field related activities such as trainings or supervision visits
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Support government partners and CHAI country teams in executing strategies to achieve programmatic goals related to diagnosis and treatment, including:
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Increasing availability and quality of malaria diagnostic tools;
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Developing materials for health care workers to improve diagnosis utilization and adherence to national guidelines;
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Expanding of Community Health Worker programs
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Strengthening of supply chains for malaria commodities
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Exploring implementation of new diagnostic and treatment tools, as necessary.
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Support government partners and CHAI country teams in the drafting and/or updating of national guidelines related to diagnosis and treatment and quality assurance and control for medicines and diagnostics
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Assist in the national forecasting and quantification of diagnosis and treatment commodities to support accurate procurement of all malaria-related health products
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Draft presentations and reports for national and global teams on topics related to malaria case management
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Coordinate meetings and facilitate knowledge sharing between the government program and partner organizations in the region to ensure effective coordination
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Assist in internal reporting, budget forecasting, and grant reporting
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A university degree plus 3+ years of working experience with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership;
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High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications;
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Demonstrated excellent analytical, quantitative, and problem solving skills;
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Knowledge of malaria and/or other major global infectious disease problems;
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Ability to work independently in unstructured settings and to adapt to new environments and challenges;
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Enthusiasm for applying research methods to solve global health problems; and,
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Exceptional written and oral communication skills
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Fluent in Spanish
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Developing world experience (living and working)
Advantages:
- Strong spoken and written French
- Experience working in management consulting, investment banking, or similar fast-paced, output-oriented environments
- Experience working in health system strengthening and/or healthcare worker engagement
- Preferred to have some knowledge in the following areas: malaria, diagnosis, supply chain, forecasting, training, and quality assurance systems
- Advanced degree
- Experience with infectious disease control programs
PI98672572
How to apply:
Apply Online
