Wednesday, October 03, 2012

M&E/Research Database Manager, eMTCT Program in Malawi



The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI – formerly the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative) under the leadership of former President William Jefferson Clinton III has worked since 2002 to reduce the pricing of HIV/AIDS medicines and tests, and to work with governments around the world to further turn the tide on the disease by building the systems needed to deliver care and treatment.
In ten short years, President Clinton and CHAI have made a substantial impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  This includes seven breakthrough price reductions for drugs and diagnostics.  Today, more than two million people living with HIV/AIDS are on lifesaving treatment using medicines purchased under CHAI agreements with manufacturers.  This includes two out of every three children who are on HIV/AIDS treatment.  CHAI’s greatest work is as a trusted partner to national governments whose efforts have made possible tremendous gains in HIV/AIDS services and public health. In addition to programs focused on HIV/AIDS, CHAI has expanded in recent years to assist efforts to fight malaria, lowering the prices and improving access to malaria medicines.  CHAI has also worked with a number of governments on improving the underlying systems needed to deliver comprehensive health care. 

In 2006, CHAI signed an MOU with the Malawi government to strengthen health systems in the most challenged districts, provide national support to HIV/AIDS drug pricing and programmatic work, support the pilot and scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) initiatives, expand access to ART for children, strengthen the Malawi’s Lab system, and scale-up an integrated nutrition program for children. CHAI’s support to Malawi has expanded to include a number of additional programs: Human Resources for Health, Vaccines and Health Financing. Recently, CHAI has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the University of Malawi College of Medicine (CoM) to implement research projects in its efforts to generate evidence-based policy recommendation.  As part of this new collaboration, CoM will jointly implement a research project with CHAI to assess strategies to improve mother-child retention on in PMTCT programmes. This project will inform Ministry of Health policies and programmes aimed at achieving the elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (eMTCT)

As part of CoM and CHAI research collaboration, CHAI is seeking dynamic and self-driven individuals of high integrity to support the implementation of the eMTCT study.

Program Overview:
CHAI’s and College of Medicine’s new eMTCT Study combines approaches that address both facility and community-level barriers to access, retention and adherence to integrated ART/PMTCT/MNCH services for HIV-positive mothers and their infants. It will compare the impact and cost-effectiveness of using mother-infant-pair (MIP) clinics in improving retention of mother-infant pairs on PMTCT care and their quality of care. MIP clinics have been found to improve uptake of high-quality care, by providing integrated HIV and MNCH services under one roof, including education, counselling and psychosocial support for HIV positive mothers. This program is seeking operationally-focused and research oriented individuals to enable the research findings in implementation of this program to inform the national eMTCT strategy.
Responsibilities:
Based in Mangochi, the M&E/Research Data Manager in collaboration with the District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and the College of Medicine (COM) in Mangochi and Mulanje districts will:
  • Develop research data management systems and Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for implementing a highly quality research project.
  • Align all study data collection tools and data management procedures with MOH and COM data management systems;
  • Develop, implement and test Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) to ensure standardization of high quality care at the clinic and satellite facilities
  • Support the conduct of baseline study for the project so as to ensure accurate data collection
  • Coordinate all subsequent data collection activities across respective districts
  • Provide training and supervision to Research Assistants and district staff in collecting research data and adhering to data management Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs);
  • Produce regular M&E reports for CHAI, MOH, COM and WHO/CIDA counterparts;
  • Train Health Care Workers on patient follow-up systems as outlined in the study protocols;
  • Conduct training on the linkages between clinical care and implementation research
  • Assist in measuring outcomes, evaluating processes, and analyzing performance of health care delivery
  • Assist the Study Coordinator, Project Managers and Principal Investigators in analyzing and presenting key findings of research activities to ART/PMTCT stakeholders through technical working groups and other meetings; and
  • Work with team and DHMT to translate research findings into adjustments in implementation activities as necessary.



Qualifications:
  • A minimum of 4 years of experience in private or public sector enterprise;
  • A master’s degree in a heavily research-oriented field;
  • Experience in managing research databases and performing research data audits;
  • Experience in developing data collection tools and data management SoPs
  • Ability to negotiate and achieve consensus with key stakeholders;
  • Ability to solve challenging problems without extensive structural or operational support;
  •  Ability to adapt to fast-paced and changing environments, both internally and externally;
  • Excellent business-oriented verbal, visual and written communication skills;
  • Previous experience working in a developing country with ability to function well in rural settings with limited infrastructure and services;
  • Willingness to spend significant time in the field at health clinics and traveling between Mangochi and Mulanje districts;
  • Strong analytical skills and technical proficiency with Excel and PowerPoint;
  • English language fluency, both written and verbal required. Fluency in Chichewa, both written and verbal preferred.
Options:
Labels: