Associate, Diagnostics at the Clinton Health Access Initiative 50 views0 applications


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. 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.

In 2006, CHAI signed an MOU with the Malawi government to strengthen health systems in the most challenged districts, provide national support to HIV/AIDS drug pricing and programmatic work, support the pilot and scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) initiatives, expand access to Anti-Retroviral therapy for children, strengthen Malawi’s lab system, and scale up an integrated nutrition program for children. CHAI’s support to Malawi has expanded to include Human Resources for Health, Vaccines, and Health Financing.

Position Overview:

In 2012 Malawi adopted viral load testing as the only supported method for monitoring viral suppression among patients enrolled in ART. To facilitate this decision, in late 2013, the Ministry of Health adopted dried blood spot (DBS) as the standard method for collecting viral load samples, making it possible to decentralize testing to district hospitals and health centers. Malawi went from doing around 50,000 viral load tests in 2014 to about 229,000 tests in 2016.

During scale-up of viral load testing CHAI has supported the Ministry of Health with laboratory resources and technical assistance. As CHAI Malawi seeks to continue its support to the Ministry of Health’s efforts to provide routine viral load testing to more than 450,000 ART clients the office is looking for an Associate to lead a diverse set of activities designed to increase access to viral load testing and linkage to second-line treatment for people living with HIV in Malawi.

Additionally, CHAI is supporting the ministry of health in evaluating, piloting and scaling up point of care diagnostic technologies for HIV. The country associate will support Malawi diagnostics team and Ministry of Health in the implementation of both conventional, laboratory-based diagnostic products and new, innovative Point-Of-Care (POC) products that bring diagnostics out of the laboratory and closer to the patient. The associate will work on devising and implementing innovative strategies for scaling up testing and monitoring programs, which include Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Viral Load (VL) monitoring of patients on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The associate will also provide some technical support and mentorship to CHAI’s Supply Chain Specialist who is working closely with Ministry of Health to improve the diagnostics supply chain in Malawi.

The position will require close coordination with high-level ministry employees, laboratory managers and technicians, and development partners. Improving service delivery throughout the continuum of care will require keen analytic ability, robust problem solving, and superb interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities:

The Associate will report to the Diagnostics Program Manager. Specific responsibilities will include:

 

Viral Load

  • Generate robust models for forecasting demand for VL testing services and support the ministry’s orders and applications for viral load commodities procured with donor assistance;
  • Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health for strengthening and monitoring the supply chain for reagents, laboratory consumables, and sample collection materials;
  • Compile national viral load testing data and present results to the Ministry of Health, development partners, and donors;
  • Organize trainings for district-level ART mentors in viral load sample collection, result interpretation, and linkage-to-care;
  • Oversee visits to health facilities by mentors to ensure that mentoring activities affect transformative change, including monitoring visits, liaising with mentors, and driving accountability at the district health offices;
  • Conduct various analyses of bottlenecks and challenges with testing uptake and linkage to adherence counseling and second line treatment, recommend solutions to the Ministry of Health and support implementation of these solutions;
  • Document the viral load scale-up process to provide a robust record for policy makers and to inform CHAI efforts in neighboring countries;

POC Diagnostics

  • Oversee data collection and analysis of ongoing pilots for VL and EID diagnostic products;
  • Draft evaluation and pilot study protocols as required when new products come into market and require evaluation;
  • Present study and program data to in country stakeholders and support dissemination at international platforms when required;
  • Support drafting of study protocols in readiness for IRB review;
  • Support quantification and forecasting of commodities for scale up of POC testing;
  • Organize trainings for pilot studies and scale up to ensure highest quality of trained personnel;
  • Support mentorship activities for sites using point of care devices;

Cross-Cutting Activities

  • Attend policy meetings and prepare presentations for the ministry and partners;
  • Advise the Ministry of Health impartially on policy and technological issues relating to viral load testing, linkage to treatment, point of care and other diagnostics in general;
  • Liaise with CHAI’s global Laboratory Services Team (LST) on programmatic and policy issues;
  • Liaise with other CHAI Malawi teams to ensure that Malawi programming integrates into CHAI’s broader work on increasing patients on ART and reducing mortality;
  • Work tirelessly to improve the public health system in Malawi increasing access for all patients and ensuring long-term sustainability;
  • Participate in fundraising efforts to secure funding for additional program activities including preparation of concept notes, proposals and budgets
  • Attend to other duties as requested by the management team

Other responsibilities as needed.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus 2-3 years of work experience
  • Fluency in English; excellent written and oral communications skills
  • Strong quantitative capacity, problem solving skills and analytical capabilities
  • Detail-oriented with strong organization skills
  • Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently and flexibly with a strong commitment to excellence
  • Ability to be effective in high-pressure situations and work in a fast-paced environment with limited-structural support
  • Ability to maintain strong relationships with a variety people and organizations, including but not limited to high-level Ministry of Health officials, district health officers, laboratory professionals, partner programmatic staff, and fellow CHAI employees
  • High level of proficiency in relevant computer applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Advantages:

  • Familiarity with issues specific to laboratories and diagnostics
  • Familiarity with the Malawi health system
  • Experience working in the healthcare industry
  • Experience in managing a research study

More Information

  • Job City Lilongwe
  • This job has expired!
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Founded in 2002 by President William J. Clinton, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems around the world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and other illnesses. Based on the premise that business oriented strategy can facilitate solutions to global health challenges, CHAI acts as a catalyst to mobilize new resources and optimize the impact of these resources to save lives, via improved organization of commodity markets and more effective local management. By working in association with governments and other NGO partners, CHAI is focused on large scale impact and, to date, CHAI has secured lower pricing agreements for treatment options in more than 70 countries. In addition, CHAI's teams are working side-by-side with over 30 governments to tackle many of the largest barriers to effective treatment and care.

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0 USD Lilongwe CF 3201 Abc road Full Time , 40 hours per week Clinton Health Access Initiative

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. 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.

In 2006, CHAI signed an MOU with the Malawi government to strengthen health systems in the most challenged districts, provide national support to HIV/AIDS drug pricing and programmatic work, support the pilot and scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) initiatives, expand access to Anti-Retroviral therapy for children, strengthen Malawi’s lab system, and scale up an integrated nutrition program for children. CHAI’s support to Malawi has expanded to include Human Resources for Health, Vaccines, and Health Financing.

Position Overview:

In 2012 Malawi adopted viral load testing as the only supported method for monitoring viral suppression among patients enrolled in ART. To facilitate this decision, in late 2013, the Ministry of Health adopted dried blood spot (DBS) as the standard method for collecting viral load samples, making it possible to decentralize testing to district hospitals and health centers. Malawi went from doing around 50,000 viral load tests in 2014 to about 229,000 tests in 2016.

During scale-up of viral load testing CHAI has supported the Ministry of Health with laboratory resources and technical assistance. As CHAI Malawi seeks to continue its support to the Ministry of Health’s efforts to provide routine viral load testing to more than 450,000 ART clients the office is looking for an Associate to lead a diverse set of activities designed to increase access to viral load testing and linkage to second-line treatment for people living with HIV in Malawi.

Additionally, CHAI is supporting the ministry of health in evaluating, piloting and scaling up point of care diagnostic technologies for HIV. The country associate will support Malawi diagnostics team and Ministry of Health in the implementation of both conventional, laboratory-based diagnostic products and new, innovative Point-Of-Care (POC) products that bring diagnostics out of the laboratory and closer to the patient. The associate will work on devising and implementing innovative strategies for scaling up testing and monitoring programs, which include Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Viral Load (VL) monitoring of patients on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The associate will also provide some technical support and mentorship to CHAI’s Supply Chain Specialist who is working closely with Ministry of Health to improve the diagnostics supply chain in Malawi.

The position will require close coordination with high-level ministry employees, laboratory managers and technicians, and development partners. Improving service delivery throughout the continuum of care will require keen analytic ability, robust problem solving, and superb interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities:

The Associate will report to the Diagnostics Program Manager. Specific responsibilities will include:

 

Viral Load

  • Generate robust models for forecasting demand for VL testing services and support the ministry’s orders and applications for viral load commodities procured with donor assistance;
  • Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health for strengthening and monitoring the supply chain for reagents, laboratory consumables, and sample collection materials;
  • Compile national viral load testing data and present results to the Ministry of Health, development partners, and donors;
  • Organize trainings for district-level ART mentors in viral load sample collection, result interpretation, and linkage-to-care;
  • Oversee visits to health facilities by mentors to ensure that mentoring activities affect transformative change, including monitoring visits, liaising with mentors, and driving accountability at the district health offices;
  • Conduct various analyses of bottlenecks and challenges with testing uptake and linkage to adherence counseling and second line treatment, recommend solutions to the Ministry of Health and support implementation of these solutions;
  • Document the viral load scale-up process to provide a robust record for policy makers and to inform CHAI efforts in neighboring countries;

POC Diagnostics

  • Oversee data collection and analysis of ongoing pilots for VL and EID diagnostic products;
  • Draft evaluation and pilot study protocols as required when new products come into market and require evaluation;
  • Present study and program data to in country stakeholders and support dissemination at international platforms when required;
  • Support drafting of study protocols in readiness for IRB review;
  • Support quantification and forecasting of commodities for scale up of POC testing;
  • Organize trainings for pilot studies and scale up to ensure highest quality of trained personnel;
  • Support mentorship activities for sites using point of care devices;

Cross-Cutting Activities

  • Attend policy meetings and prepare presentations for the ministry and partners;
  • Advise the Ministry of Health impartially on policy and technological issues relating to viral load testing, linkage to treatment, point of care and other diagnostics in general;
  • Liaise with CHAI’s global Laboratory Services Team (LST) on programmatic and policy issues;
  • Liaise with other CHAI Malawi teams to ensure that Malawi programming integrates into CHAI’s broader work on increasing patients on ART and reducing mortality;
  • Work tirelessly to improve the public health system in Malawi increasing access for all patients and ensuring long-term sustainability;
  • Participate in fundraising efforts to secure funding for additional program activities including preparation of concept notes, proposals and budgets
  • Attend to other duties as requested by the management team

Other responsibilities as needed.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus 2-3 years of work experience
  • Fluency in English; excellent written and oral communications skills
  • Strong quantitative capacity, problem solving skills and analytical capabilities
  • Detail-oriented with strong organization skills
  • Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently and flexibly with a strong commitment to excellence
  • Ability to be effective in high-pressure situations and work in a fast-paced environment with limited-structural support
  • Ability to maintain strong relationships with a variety people and organizations, including but not limited to high-level Ministry of Health officials, district health officers, laboratory professionals, partner programmatic staff, and fellow CHAI employees
  • High level of proficiency in relevant computer applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Advantages:

  • Familiarity with issues specific to laboratories and diagnostics
  • Familiarity with the Malawi health system
  • Experience working in the healthcare industry
  • Experience in managing a research study
2017-03-31

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