Senior Vaccine Supply Chain Advisor at Axios Foundation Nigeria

The Axios Foundation (AF) is a US-based public charity focused on the implementation of programs to drive access to care in the developing world. Axios engages with local stakeholders, opinion leaders, government authorities and health facility management to assess and improve local infrastructure, including hospitals and laboratories, and to manage effective supply chain management systems and disease management programs. In addition, the Foundation manages a number of international drug donation programs.

Axios Foundation Nigeria is recruiting to fill the vacant position of

Job Title: Senior Vaccine Supply Chain Advisor

Location: Nigeria
Job Code: 10

Description
Axios seeks a Senior Vaccine Supply Chain Advisor for an upcoming DFID funded Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health program in Nigeria. The program will cover six states in Northern Nigeria (Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, and Zamfara) and in addition to providing and strengthening MNCH services, will also include Routine Immunization. The Senior Vaccine Supply Chain Advisor will support, strengthen and guide the logistics for vaccines to ensure reliability, availability, and accessibility and assist in the design and implementation of immunization activities and policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide technical assistance to State Ministries of Health (SMOH) in strengthening the process for accurate forecasting and quantification, warehousing and inventory management, distribution, and LMIS for vaccines, syringes and various cold chain equipment.
• Provide leadership and guidance to logistics staff in each of the program states on addressing vaccine supply chain challenges and issues.
• Help lead the design of a strategy for integrated supply chain systems capable of managing all health commodities.
• Advise and guide DFID, SMOH, Government of Nigeria (GON), and other stakeholders on developing immunization / vaccination strategies and approaches as well as vaccine supply chain issues, best practices, policies, innovations, and performance.
• Provide advocacy to the GON and government agencies to strengthen health policies and regulations related to immunization and vaccination.
• Work with other program staff on developing a plan to manage and implement the routine immunization program.
• Assess existing cold chain and storage capacity, identify gaps and weaknesses, and develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), policies, guidelines, and procedures to build capacity and promote sustainability.
• Explore new technologies for cold storage.
• Work with and support the SMOH in implementing the solutions for improving management of the cold chain system and vaccine delivery.
• Provide capacity building and training support to improve the skills and capabilities of logistics staff at the SMOH, local health facilities, and Central Medical Stores.
• Coordinate with other projects and donors (including DFID, USAID, Global Fund, GAVI, etc.) on service delivery, commodities supply chain, and logistics strengthening and immunization / vaccination policies and practices.
• Coordinate with the project’s M&E team to ensure that vaccine logistics related data is effectively captured throughout the supply chain.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree or equivalent in Public Health, Epidemiology, Operations Management, Laboratory Sciences, or other related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in vaccine and cold chain logistics and supply chain management.
• Knowledge and experience in routine immunization programs.
• Experience in capacity building and training of logistics and health facility staff.
• Experience working in Northern Nigeria, particularly in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, and Zamfara.
• Demonstrated ability to work with government staff at multiple levels in including the state and local community levels.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.

Application Closing Date
17th December, 2013

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click here to apply online