Associate Commodity Access, Southeast
Asia
Clinton Health Access Initiative
Full-Time Job
Annual Salary
Annual Salary
Worldwide
DEADLINE: October 17, 2017
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 saving lives, reducing the burden of disease and strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world.
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.
Summary of Position
CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to help develop and execute more effective malaria elimination programs in countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) that CHAI supports (Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Lao PDR). Although great strides have been made to reduce malaria, the epidemiology of malaria in the GMS region is complex and rapidly evolving. Malaria control and elimination efforts face a daunting array of challenges including multi-drug resistance. CHAI is committed to help countries face these challenges as they move towards malaria elimination.
One of CHAI's primary areas of focus is malaria case management, including diagnosis and treatment via routine health services (public, private, and community sectors). As countries move closer to elimination, it becomes imperative that all suspected malaria cases are screened, tested, and 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 GMS have made great progress to making confirmatory diagnosis available, work remains to promote and ensure access to affordable and high performing malaria diagnostic tools for all as well as train health workers on their use. Low testing rates and presumptive treatment of fever cases as malaria weakens the quality of surveillance data, wastes anti-malarial drugs, and diverts or delays treatment of the true causes of infection.
To improve malaria case management in the GMS countries, the Associate is expected to support the country teams in further developing the diagnosis and treatment strategies tailored to each of the countries and assist CHAI country teams and local governments to execute against these strategies. Examples of the country support include: analysis of available case data and field investigations to determine health system gaps and challenges, revision of national diagnosis and treatment guidelines to align with global guidance and adjust for local context, development of malaria case management training approaches and materials and the well-executed delivery of these trainings; forecasting the multi-year need for malaria diagnosis and treatment commodities; and supply chain strengthening initiatives, in addition to other case management support needs that may arise.
The Associate will be part of CHAI's Global Malaria Team, based in one of the four focus countries in the region, and will report directly to the global malaria diagnosis manager as well as the regional malaria manager. Due to multi-country support function of this role, up to 50-75% travel is expected.
The position requires a highly motivated individual with outstanding analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills. The candidate must be able to work independently to drive implementation and have deep personal commitment to producing results. The candidate must also be able to adapt the support provided to country team members based on different backgrounds and skill sets in each country. Past experience in public health, health systems strengthening, or management consulting is desired, but not required. Successful candidates should be fast learners and strategic thinkers who are both willing to take on routine tasks such as data entry and capable of facilitating high-level strategic discussions with a multi-cultural, multidisciplinary set of actors. 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 GMS 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 GMS countries
- Support government partners and CHAI country teams in executing strategies to achieve programmatic goals related to diagnosis and treatment, including:
- Increasing availability and quality of malaria diagnostic tools;
- Exploring implementation of new diagnostic and treatment tools, as necessary.
- Developing materials for health care workers to improve diagnosis utilization and adherence to national guidelines;
- Increasing availability and quality of malaria diagnostic tools;
- Developing materials for health care workers to improve diagnosis utilization and adherence to national guidelines;
- Exploring implementation of new diagnostic and treatment tools, as necessary.
- 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
- Assist in the national forecasting and quantification of diagnosis and treatment commodities to support accurate procurement of all malaria-related health products
- Draft presentations and reports for national and global teams on topics related to malaria case management
- Coordinate meetings and facilitate knowledge sharing between the government program and partner organizations in the region to ensure effective coordination
- Assist in internal reporting, budget forecasting, and grant reporting
Candidate Requirements
- A university degree plus 2-4 years of work experience
- Exceptional problem-solving solving skills and analytical capabilities
- Strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to build and maintain strong relationships in varied multicultural environments
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Skill in making persuasive presentations and written reports
- Strong organizational abilities and detail-oriented approach
- Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently without direct, day-to-day managerial oversight
- Patience and thoughtfulness even in high-pressure, stressful situations
- Strong spoken and written English
Advantages
- 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
- Experience working in a developing country context on multicultural teams
- Language skills in Vietnamese, Burmese, Lao, and/or Khmer
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