TB Officer 54 views0 applications

KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation

KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against tuberculosis (TB), the first deadliest infectious disease in the world. KNCV is an international center of expertise for TB control that promotes effective, efficient, innovative and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national and international context. We are an organization of passionate TB professionals, including doctors, researchers, training experts, nurses and epidemiologists. We aim to stop the spread of the worldwide epidemic of TB and to prevent the further spread of drug-resistant TB. We operate from a central office in The Hague in the Netherlands, a regional office in Central Asia and country offices worldwide. KNCV raises funds from private, institutional, corporate, and government donors.

Background

Ethiopia is a high TB burden country missing a third of estimated TB cases each year. People living with diabetes melitus (DM) are at increased risk to become infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to progress from latent tuberculosis (TB) infection to active TB disease, and to suffer adverse TB treatment outcomes. According to the report of International Diabetes Federation(IDF) (2017), the global prevalence of diabetes among adults is now at 8.5% with 425 million people living with the disease. The prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle-and low-income nations. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of undiagnosed people with diabetes- 70% of people living with the disease do not know they have it. Ethiopia tops all sub-Saharan African countries by number of people with diabetes. According to IDF, over 2.7 million cases of diabetes (projected for 2019) live in the country and the prevalence in adults is 5.2%. Sadly, over 76% of people with diabetes in Ethiopia are undiagnosed.

KNCV Ethiopia office is starting on an implementation of a project that aims at assessing the yield and operational feasibility of integrated screening for TB and DM under routine clinical care conditions in Ethiopia. The project will be implemented in 9 public hospitals and 26 health centers in Addis Ababa. The hospitals and health centres will be selected to align with the project sites of KNCV’s other projects. In the selected health facilities, the project aims to screen for TB 85% of DM patients (a total of 17,850) in the project sites for TB and 85% of TB patients (a total of 3,400) for DM.

Purpose of the position

KNCV is looking for a TB Officer who will lead and provide oversight on the above project.

Position in the organization

The TB Officer will report directly to the Country Representative and will work in close coordination with the KNCV central office teams lead and grant manager.

Duties and responsibilities

The TB Officer will:

Technical assistance

• Coordinate a rapid baseline assessment in 9 Hospitals and 26 health centres of Addis Ababa
• Establish a joint TB/DM consultative platform/a joint task force for planning and review
• Conduct consultative meeting of key TB/DM stakeholders
• Develop project implementation protocol at service delivery points (OPD, Diabetic clinic, TB clinic)
• Develop a training material for the capacity building of health care workers at the clinics
• Coordinate the sensitization of key TB program officers of respective programmes at national and Addis Ababa City
• Coordinate joint training of health care workers at the clinics on bidirectional TB/DM screening
• Develop and place job aids, registers, reporting and referral formats for TB/DM bi-directional screening
• Coordinate the bi-directional TB-DM screening and diagnosis (symptom, chest x-ray, GeneXpert testing, glycemic testing)
• Ensure the establishment of proper linkage of patients with TB/DM for integrated care through agreed upon referral mechanism between the two programmes
• Carry out joint mentoring and supportive supervision of clinical practice of bi-directional TB/DM screening (monthly to a site)
• Conduct a qualitative study on acceptability using in-depth interviews and group discussions
• Facilitate quarterly and annual review meeting (cross-participation of both programme)
• Facilitate changes in policy and practice through advocacy works, documentation and dissemination of project findings with key decision makers and influencers within the Ministry of Health
• Help KNCV stimulate further resource mobilization for larger sale implementation of TB/DM collaborative activities

People, project and quality management

• Oversee the day-to-day implementation of the project, including activities undertaken
• Maintain close communication related to the project implementation with sub-city health department, regional Health Bureau, National TB Program and all relevant government agencies.
• Work closely with the local partners and associations such as the Ethiopian Diabetes Association involved in the project

Knowledge management

• Actively share knowledge and skills with the national and global TB community by contributing to development of abstracts, technical briefs and peer reviewed publications.

What does KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation offer?

• A contract for 10 months;
• An informal work atmosphere in an international environment where a pro-active mentality is appreciated;
• A highly-motivated team of experienced, self-driven colleagues;
• The salary is dependent upon education and relevant working experience;
• KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation has its own Employment Conditions Scheme;
• Full-time employment consists of 40 hours per week.

Who are we looking for?

• BSc in public health/MD or any health-related field and Masters’ Degree in Public Health or equivalent
• Minimum 5 years, post qualification experience including working in TB control at national or sub-national level
• Knowledge and experience in TB program management and implementation especially with urban TB program including active case finding among key populations
• Sound knowledge of basic principles of TB-DM interaction, health facility active TB case finding and the challenges associated with TB case finding among key populations in high load health facilities
• Solid knowledge and experience of operational research related to TB with particular focus on TB/DM
• Experience working on health-related projects in an international organization;
• Experience working with a wide range of stakeholders at local district and regional levels and civil societies and NGOs
• Candidates with experience in working with the National TB Program and building the capacity of health care workers in TB will be preferred.

Behavioral competencies and skills

• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels (ministry, donors, NGOs and local community based organizations);
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in Amharic and English;
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently;
• Ability to cope with a demanding work environment and to organize and prioritize workload;