Senior Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant TB Advisor 157 views0 applications

SUSTAINING TECHNICAL AND ANALYTIC RESOURCES

FELLOWSHIP TITLE: Senior Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant TB Advisor

HOST ORGANIZATION: National TB Program, Ministry of Health

LOCATION: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

POSITION LEVEL: Senior Technical Advisor

STAR-P1-053

TRAVEL: 20% estimated travel

STAR PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) is a project of the Public Health Institute (PHI) supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Health (GH) Bureau. Its purpose is twofold: (1) Through individual fellowships, STAR will help strengthen the capacity of diverse American and low-and-middle-income country (LMIC) health professionals at all levels to make innovative contributions to global health (GH); and (2) STAR will create ground-breaking opportunities for both US and LMIC GH academic institutions and other groups, including professional associations, to create systems for open-access knowledge sharing, resulting in effective partnerships. STAR’s individual and institutional participants are contributing to the development of self-sustaining systems and tools that will produce global citizens with the full spectrum of relevant health competencies. STAR is managed by the Public Health Institute and implemented in partnership with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH).

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP

The STAR Fellowship is a two-year global health and learning opportunity with:

• Individualized, tailored support to enhance the fellow’s achievement personal and professional goals
• Personalized learning plans and access to learning resources (courses, conferences, mentoring) based on fellow’s learning style and preferences.
• Access to broad professional networks to enhance peer learning and knowledge sharing.

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

Background:

As a Global leader in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), USAID has developed an initiative called “Global Accelerator to End TB” to support high burden countries and reach UN general assembly TB Declaration targets. Technical assistance to National TB programs of high burden countries is one of the components of the initiative that intends to ensure self-reliance and ownership of programs. STAR fellowship program is a field support technical assistance activity that will embed technical advisors to NTPs of high burden countries with the goal of building capacity and commitment of host government TB programs to end TB through capacity building, local solutions and evidence-based TB programming.

Introduction:

The Senior Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant TB Technical Advisor (Senior Advisor) will provide technical guidance, strategic direction, and evidences for the political leadership and National TB program manager to know, own, finance and lead the National MDR-TB program. They will provide state-of-the-art technical support to the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) in revising, implementing, and continuously reviewing the National TB Strategic Plan (NSP) and PMDT implementation plan including the adaptation and implementation of new global guidance. They will support the National TB Program in building the capacity and commitment of the Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant TB (PMDT) officer(s) at National and Sub-national level in strengthening the PMDT program to early detect/diagnose and manage MDR, and pre-XDR/XDR-TB cases in the country. With the guidance and direction of NTP manager, they will coordinate and collaborate with technical agencies of the health ministry, other implementing partners, USAID implementing partners, WHO and other donors. The expected outcome of this technical assistance will be to build a pool of national and sub-national PMDT experts sufficient to implement PMDT, to narrow the significant MDR-TB case finding gap and to maintain the treatment success rates.

Reporting structure:

The Senior PMDT Technical Advisor will receive technical direction from the NTP Manager who will serve as the onsite manager and will work in close collaboration with USAID/Ethiopia and USAID/Washington TB team. They will report directly to the NTP manager, USAID POCs (Ethiopia and Washington).

Essential Duties and Outcomes:

Strategic Capacity building support and mentorship to PMDT Officers on the implementation of NSP to address Drug-resistant TB:

• Provide technical guidance, strategic direction, and evidence for the political leadership and National TB program managers to make informed decisions on prioritizing TB support including domestic financing.
• Provide technical support to the NTP to revise, finance, implement, monitor and evaluate the NSP for the period 2021- 2025.
• Build the NTP capacity in the areas of introduction, implementation and scale-up of new global guidance as it prevails, including by sharing knowledge.
• Provide hands on day to day technical/mentorship support and on the job training for national/sub-national PMDT officers to own and implement the program independently.
• As part of a team, support review of policy options for new regimens for consideration by NTP, by staying current on global updates for New Drug (ND) Shortened Treatment Regimen (STR), and full oral treatment regimen, to ensure early adoption of international guidelines.
• Provide support in the rollout of full oral regimen and STR, for drug resistant TB including development of training curricula, guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Provide technical support to the National PMDT officers to analyze the drivers of loss to follow-up and other poor outcomes; and to initiate (with NTP) any necessary corrective actions by themselves.
• Ensure the optimal functionality and effective supervision and capacity building of existing DR TB sites, including the use of mentorship, cohort monitoring, quality improvement tools and improved supervisory arrangements to increase the consistency and quality of clinical practice in PMDT.
• Plan for expansion to additional DR TB treatment sites.

 Improved implementation of PMDT activities financed by Global Fund and USAID:

• Support the NTP PMDT officer(s) to accelerate PMDT activities financed by Global Fund.
• Work with NTP and Global Fund and/or other line ministries to link MDR-TB patients with nutrition, cash, psychosocial support packages, or other benefits.
• Participate in regular conference calls with USAID as needed.

Improved coordination of PMDT activities nationwide:

• Support the NTP PMDT officer(s) to expand the current national effort in active TB drug-safety monitoring and management (aDSM) and to strengthen the reporting and management of serious adverse events (SAEs), including integrated pharmacovigilance.
• Strengthen the NTP’s ability to oversee a well-coordinated PMDT program through ambulatory care throughout the country, with established reporting and recording tools and SOPs.
• Provide regular updates on PMDT progress to NTP and USAID, including developing and submitting technical monthly progress report and bi-annual monitoring and evaluation report to USAID staff.
• Produce quarterly factsheets on MDR-TB program and gradually transition to the national PMDT officers.
• Assist with identification or introduction of other new technical and clinical developments to improve the MDR, Pre-XDR/XDR-TB patients’ treatment outcome.
• Provide technical support and quarterly update to the national/sub-national clinical panel of experts on new updates and facilitate clinical seminars.
• Share new knowledge to improve Case detection of drug resistance tuberculosis.
• Provide technical support for additional activities related TB as needed.

Anticipated learning outcomes: * Required 10% time

• Demonstrate proficiency across the core global health competencies defined as development practice, cross cultural awareness, communication, capacity strengthening, ethics of public health, health equity, gender equality and global burden of disease that is necessary for persons practicing in global health.
• Cultivate mentorship skills based on the STAR GH mentorship curriculum to more effectively support and improve knowledge transfer and skills acquisition of staff, incoming fellows and interns.
• Advance leadership skills to successful support capacity building and knowledge sharing activities, and mentor develop junior staff.
• Apply leadership skills and technical expertise to support programmatic growth and scale up within PMDT/TB programming.

FELLOWSHIP REQUIREMENTS

Required:

• MD plus certificate in internal medicine, infectious disease, MPH or equivalent.
• Minimum 13 years of relevant technical experience with master’s degree.
• Minimum 7 years of PMDT experience.
• Demonstrated extensive experience in provision of strategic and technical guidance to NTPs on global strategies, policies and guidelines.
• Experience in the development, implementation, and review of national TB strategic plans including external program reviews.
• Experience and knowledge of Global Fund systems including development of concepts, implementation and review of Global Fund plans.
• Demonstrated ability to review, analyze and advise all aspects of PMDT at national and regional level.
• Up-to-date knowledge of WHO and national policies on all aspects of the management of drug resistant TB.
• Up-to-date knowledge of ongoing and emerging issues in PMDT, like epidemiology, international policy, evidence development and (MDR) TB control strategies, especially regarding shorter MDR regimens, new drugs and new diagnostics.
• Experience in teaching/training and capacity building.
• Experience working with the key stakeholders in TB programs, preferably the national stakeholders and international donors.
• In depth knowledge of the Ethiopian health system and National TB program including the gaps, performance barriers and successes.
• Ability to work independently under stressful conditions and ability to organize and prioritize workload.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills (both oral and written).
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
• Sound analytical skills.
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally as determined by NTP and USAID.
• Fluency in English and Amharic required.

Additional skills (preferred)

• In depth knowledge and hands-on experience in the clinical management of drug resistant TB is an advantage.

TO APPLY:

All applicants are required to apply for this position through STAR’s online recruitment system at https://www.ghstar.org/, which allows you to store your CV/resume and separate cover letter describing your qualifications and experience, interest and familiarity with issues relating to this position, and how this position relates to your career goals is required for each application. All online applications must be submitted by August 30, 2019 by 5:00 pm Eastern time.