CHAI is hiring an Analyst Point of care
Overview
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org.
With the establishment of the ambitious 2020 « 90-90-90 » treatment targets, there is a renewed focus on initiating HIV-infected people on to ART as soon as possible, and ensuring they remain on effective treatment to achieve viral suppression – both of which require better access to Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Viral Load (VL) testing. Access to effective EID and VL testing is hampered, as the market for both tests has historically been dominated by complex, central laboratory-based technologies, which are unable to meet the testing need in resource-limited settings. These technologies require high capital investment, sophisticated laboratory infrastructure and highly trained technicians that are not available in many settings, and have limited geographic reach. As a result, most patients do not have access to testing on-site where they receive care, instead they must rely on transportation of their samples to and from centralized laboratories, and have to wait for their test results. Although these centralized laboratory-based technologies have formed the backbone for national testing programs, and have provided testing to many patients, implementation has been hampered by system challenges such as establishing sample transportation systems, optimizing the existing diagnostics network, timely result return to patients, return utilization, and clinical decision making, and supply chain.
The CHAI Senegal team has been supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH) since 2018 to improve access to EID and VL testing through the introduction and scale-up of point-of-care (POC). The POC project in Senegal aims to scale-up the use of these novel devices to improve access to EID and VL testing at the decentralized level. Results from the POC pilot showed an improvement in turnaround time from sample collection to result return to patient. In the scale-up phase, the project aims to improve documented result return to patient, promote same-day result return, and ensure timely clinical decision-making. This will enable earlier treatment initiation for HIV-positive infants, earlier interventions for patients with poor treatment adherence and unsuppressed viral loads, and timelier switching of patients to more effective second-line regimens in the case of first-line treatment failure.
The project will work to ensure that high-quality routine POC EID and VL testing is established, and centralized EID and VL laboratory systems are strengthened. The POC project is supporting the MOH to improve the laboratory system through a diagnostics network optimization (DNO) that will inform the development of an integrated sample transport system. The team is also assisting Senegal with the adoption of recent WHO recommendations, strengthening supply chain for HIV lab commodities, and putting in place a dashboard to track POC data in real time for decision making.
Position
CHAI is seeking an experienced, bilingual (French/English), and self-motivated Analyst to support the POC project in Senegal. The Analyst, based in Dakar, will report to the Program Manager. This position will closely support the POC team members in fostering relationships with the MOH and key stakeholders in Senegal. The team is looking for an Analyst who is comfortable with Excel, data sets, and quantitative and qualitative analyses. Experience working in diagnostics or HIV is a plus. The Analyst will specifically support the team with the diagnostics network optimization work stream, strengthening EID and VL result return to patients and result utilization, developing innovative strategies for increasing demand for EID, and developing tools to improve supply chain for HIV lab commodities. They will provide technical support to the MOH to implement these strategies at the national level in Dakar, but also in decentralized settings across the 14 regions of Senegal. About 20-25% field travel within Senegal will be required.
The Analyst will be an individual with strong analytical ability. They will be comfortable with uncertainty, while also coming up with innovative new ways of addressing problems and pushing initiatives forward. This position will work with government officials and partners, and must have excellent relationship building and communication skills. They must be able to function independently with minimal oversight, and have a strong commitment to excellence with a keen eye for detail.
Responsibilities
- Identify, plan, design, and perform quantitative and qualitative analyses to drive evidence-based, data-driven decision making for program strategies
- Develop tools, SOPs, slides, and guidance documents to support the scale-up of POC technologies and supportive systems
- Organize logistics and prepare for field missions including working with the MoH to develop the TORs, tools, presentations and other supporting documents
- Develop and deliver compelling presentations to advance business case on CHAI interventions
- Work with the MoH to ensure the country POC milestones are met
- Work with the MoH, reference lab and other partners to review, evaluate and improve the laboratory network ensuring that sample transport routes are optimized and defined, and that result reporting systems and quality control mechanisms are put in place
- Provide technical and logistical support to put in place a data management system for EID and VL testing at POC sites to ensure utilization of data for program management
- Provide the technical expertise to the reference labs and other laboratories, when applicable, to continue to improve all the quality assurance programs related to HIV testing services
- Work with the National Supply Chain Program to ensure a sustainable and strong model for HIV Laboratory commodities procurement and distribution line
- Support the team to create effective and sustainable training programs, quality assurance and, data management to support accelerated roll-out for MoH on lab systems strengthening related issues (sample transport, technology selection)
- Other tasks assigned by the Manager
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree, specialization in laboratory sciences and HIV preferred
- At least 3 years’ work experience
- Excellent problem solving, analytical and quantitative skills, and a commitment to improvement and creative thinking with a capacity to critically assess and develop stronger solutions and processes
- Exceptional interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills, and an ability to build professional relationships with key stakeholders, negotiate and achieve consensus
- Ability to learn on the job quickly and absorb and synthesize a broad range of information
- Ability to work on complex problems without extensive support
- Ability to react quickly to ad-hoc requests while managing an existing workload and meeting deadlines
- High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
- Experience working with governments and international partners
- Fluent in English and French (written and verbal). French writing skills are critical
- Previous work experience in sub-Saharan Africa
Advantages
- Advanced degree
- Experience working in management consulting, business strategy groups, investment banks, or similar fast-paced results-oriented environments
- Global health, HIV, and/or infectious diseases related experience, either in a programmatic or clinical setting
- Knowledge of workflow related to EID, CD4, Viral Load, POC, understanding the clinical underpinnings of these programs, and general market dynamics of their respective technology platforms and reagents
- Experience working in laboratories in Senegal or West Africa
- Experience working and communicating with government officials at the various levels of the health system
Closing date : 6 April 2020
