Technical Advisor - HIV Care and Treatment

Technical Advisor - HIV Care and Treatment

Job Title : Technical Advisor - HIV Care and Treatment

Job openings : 01

Locations : Yaoundé

Reports to : Director of Clinical Services

Start date : April 1 st , 2019

Applications Due: March 17, 2019

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV and AIDS, working in 19 countries and at over 5,500 sites around the world to prevent the transmission of HIV to children, and to help those already infected. Today, because of the highly successful work of the Foundation and its partners, pediatric AIDS has been virtually eliminated in the United States. With a growing global staff of over 1,000—nine of 10 who work in the field—the Foundation’s global mission is to implement HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs; further advance innovative research; and to execute strategic and targeted global advocacy activities to bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of women, children, and families worldwide. For more information, please, visit our page: www.pedaids.org .

With funding from CDC/PEPFAR Cameroon for the Atteindre95 project, EGPAF is supporting the Ministry of Public Health and the Government of Cameroon to scale-up HIV Testing Services (HTS) to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their status, that 95% of them are initiated on ART, and that 95% of those on ART are virally suppressed. EGPAF is also supported by other donors such as Unitaid to implement innovative approaches for Early Infant Diagnosis of HIV and catalysing Pediatric Tuberculosis services.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Director of Clinical Services, the HIV Care and Treatment Technical Advisor s erves as the lead HIV care and treatment (C&T) specialist within EGPAF Cameroon. S/He will ensure that HIV Care and Treatment for adults’ programs are clinically sound, evidence-based, and aligned with the priorities of the Ministry of Public Health, donors, and program beneficiaries. The Advisor is a resource person for MoH's Technical Working Groups (TWG). S/He will be responsible for maintaining a high level of expertise and innovation in Adult C&T, in particular the area of antiretroviral treatment (including adherence and retention, roll-out of viral load monitoring, treatment monitoring including treatment failure, managing patients with advanced HIV disease, differentiated service delivery models, and other related issues), running of HIV model clinics and keeping EGPAF staff informed of relevant trends and opportunities that relate to EGPAF's mission, donor priorities and host country strategic plans.

S/He supports the Clinical Service delivery teams to align their efforts to ensure rapid and sustainable results. The Technical Advisor will support the team of Senior Technical Officers will work with regional, district and facility teams to build on current program strengths and accomplishments, taking into account the donor priorities, national priorities, existing stakeholders, and programming opportunities.

Job Responsibilities/Essential Duties: Provide technical leadership in the area of HIV Care and Treatment (C&T), which includes:

· Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Public health and other key stakeholders regarding HIV testing services for developing guidelines, programmatic tools, training materials and staff capacity building;

· Developing evidence-based strategies along the continuum of HIV care for the program with support from DoCS

· Promoting innovative programming in C&T across EGPAF's programs

· Supporting clinical service delivery and mentoring teams in the design and implementation of innovative C&T interventions/ models and strengthen of HIV C&T components in current programs under the strategic direction of DoCS

· Providing technical assistance, training, and mentoring to support EGPAF's district teams in C&T

· Supervise the Field Officers attached to the ART program and provides mentorship to them to ensure evidence-based implementation and delivery of ART services.

· Developing comprehensive training materials, SOPS and tools for HIV model clinics and systematically update technical and other staff on HIV C&T

· Supporting building organizational capacity for C&T

· Support Director of Clinical Services in representation of EGPAF in national TWGs and TACs, external meetings, working groups related to HIV C&T

· Work with the DoCS to support identification of priority research and evaluation to document the outcomes and impact of HIV C&T programs.

· Facilitate documentation of QAQI interventions and successes at supported sites

· Coordinates technical reporting according to defined reporting schedule and writes regular monitoring and technical reports as required and contribute to EGPAF’s reports

· In charge of identifying, documenting, disseminating and scaling up best practices in Adult C&T.

· Support documentation of program experiences in HIV C&T as well as enhanced knowledge sharing to internal and external audiences around EGPAF's program experiences including publishing in peer-review journals.

Required qualifications

Medical Doctor/PhD Nursing with at least 7 years of continuous HIV program implementation. Registration with the required regulatory bodies (Nursing council, Medical Council) is mandatory . A Master’s degree in Public health or other related degree is a distinct advantage. Being fluent in English and French is required.

Required competencies, skills and experience

· Experience in managing a large, diverse and dynamic team of health professionals providing integrated HIV Testing, care and treatment services;

· Experience in establishing and sustaining working relationships with the Ministry of Public Health at National, Regional, District, and health providers at site level;

· Significant and up to date knowledge of the current HTS, ART and PMTCT guidelines, standards, tools and best practices. Up to date knowledge of general HIV management is a pre-requisite;

· Demonstrated experience in organizing and facilitating mentorship and capacity building in HTS and HIV service areas;

· Thorough knowledge of PEPFAR Program and MOH/NACC reporting requirements including familiarity with the data collection and reporting tools used by MOH/NACC;

· Proficiency in computer basic skills- MS Office; Internet; Basic data analysis skills;

· Self- managed, self-driven, results oriented individual with excellent communication, interpersonal, report writing and analytical skills;

· Dedicated team player with ability and experience to work in a multidisciplinary team.

· Creativity/Innovation – Develops new insights into situations; questions conventional approaches; encourages new ideas and innovations; designs and implements new or cutting edge programs/processes.

· Developing Others – Developing others is a person’s ability to perform and contribute to the organization by providing ongoing feedback and by providing opportunities to learn through formal and informal methods.

How to Apply:

Qualified candidates should submit a CV and cover letter through the following link: https://chj.tbe.taleo.net/chj05/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=PEDAIDS&cws=1

Screening of applications will be on a rolling basis. Please note that only shortlisted applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.

Applications are only acceptable through the above link.

This position is subject to donor funding.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, EGPAF complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the Foundation has facilities.