Organization: Clinton Health Access Initiative
Country: Panama
Closing date: 30 Nov 2017
Founded in 2002, by President William J. Clinton and Ira 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.
Several countries in the Mesoamerica region have committed to eliminate malaria by 2020. To reach this target, countries will need to rapidly detect and effectively treat infections, to identify and aggressively target areas where malaria transmission persists, and to coordinate efforts closely to ensure movements of people and parasites do not jeopardize success. Achievement of this goal across the region will bring the world one step closer to global malaria eradication. Over the past two and half years, CHAI has helped malaria programs make meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards malaria elimination by 2020. CHAI is supporting malaria programs in Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Haiti, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and Belize to strengthen surveillance systems, devise targeted and evidence-based plans, successfully implement these plans and interventions, and scale-up interventions in high-risk and hard-to-reach populations.
Overview of role
CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong public health experience to provide direct technical and operational support to National Malaria Programs from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Belize as they plan and execute effective programs for the last mile of malaria elimination and seek to sustain that achievement indefinitely. The Technical Advisor will work directly with Ministry of Health staff and their partners including the Pan American Health Organization to assess any remaining gaps to elimination, complete requirements for WHO certification, and strengthen and/or integrate case management and surveillance systems for long-term sustainability. The Technical Advisor will also manage an associate who will assist with these activities.
The successful candidate will work with a range of CHAI's operational and technical staff as well as diverse national stakeholders, and will therefore need to possess strong communication and organizational skills. He or she must be able to build and manage effective relationships, solve both technical and logistical challenges, and drive successful implementation while having a deep personal commitment to producing results. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.
The base location for this position will be Panama. This role requires travel to higher risk, remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.
- Provide technical, analytical, and operational assistance to national malaria programs to identify and close the remaining gaps to sustainable malaria elimination
- Assess and help improve surveillance platforms for improved data collection, management, analysis, and visualization
- Conduct epidemiological and spatial analyses of malaria cases, intervention coverage, and vector distributions to define areas of high risk and evaluate remaining transmission chains
- Support evaluation of the national programs against WHO requirements for elimination certification, and help programs plan processes for achieving all requirements
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders from government and partner organizations from public health and academia
- Drive internal strategic planning processes related to how best to prioritize CHAI resources to develop solutions to rapidly address bottlenecks
- Ensure political buy-in and adequate funding for certifying elimination in a context where malaria is a not a public health priority
- Develop operational plans and associated training materials as needed to build government capacity and support effective execution of malaria program
- Oversee the work of an Associate on a day to day basis, ensuring optimal delivery of CHAI support through workplanning and project management
- Work closely with regional technical teams and managers to identify strategic areas for expansion or redirection and guide strategic planning or proposal development as needed
- Work closely with CHAI's regional operations team to ensure strong safety protocols for staff, and operations meet the required legal and financial standards
- Synthesize results and communicate them internally and externally at national and regional venues
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Disseminate findings through high-quality presentations, reports, and publications
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Master's degree in Public Health or related field
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5+ years of related and relevant experience, including experience managing others
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Knowledge of malaria and/or other major global infectious disease problems, especially in the context of diseases surveillance and case management
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Technical expertise in disease surveillance, entomology, vector control, and/or case management
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Exceptional problem solving skills and quantitative and qualitative analytical capabilities
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Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to create compelling, logical presentations, using PowerPoint and other tools, and a structured and assured oral and written communication style
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Proven experience of translating analysis into action and supervising execution of activities to meet results
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Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships in a challenging politically unstable environment
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Ability to work independently and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment
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Ability to handle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously
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High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications
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Ability to travel up to 75% as needed
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Fluency in Spanish and English
Advantages
- Experience executing successful health projects in developing countries, ideally malaria-specific projects
- Experience living and working in Central America
- Experience working remotely with a decentralized team
- Experience working with governments and institutions from Latin America
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How to apply:
