Senior Technical Advisor at Management Sciences for Health (MSH)

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) saves lives and improves health, especially among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health. Our mission is to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Senior Technical Advisor

Job ID: 13-7875
Location: NG-Abuja

Overall Responsibilities

• The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) is responsible for providing direct technical assistance to national TB programs/MoH aimed at ensuring universal access to TB medicines through strengthening pharmaceutical systems1, supply chain2 management, management information systems, pharmaceutical services3, and providing technical leadership to donors and Global TB initiatives, such as the Global Fund (TGF) and the Global Drug Facility (GDF).
• S/he supports SIAPS TB Core and country programs portfolios and in-country teams in the development and implementation of technical activities ensuring their adequate contribution to SIAPS results.
• S/he is the primary liaison between SIAPS TB Core and the USAID Country Missions, Government counterparts, stakeholders, and partners involved with pharmaceutical management activities and/or implementing related programs in the countries and region.
• The STA is responsible for the adequate deployment of CPM tools and frameworks and their adequate customization and ownership at the country level.
• S/he works closely with country portfolio teams, international and national stakeholders to ensure that technical assistance activities are adequately effective and that deliverables are meeting quality standards.
• S/he supports measurement and documentation of portfolio results.
• The STA also contributes and supports CPM and SIAPS capacity building and knowledge exchange plans.

Specific Responsibilities
Work in conjunction with the NTP, MOH, USAID missions, the Global Fund, the Global Drug Facility, WHO, technical partners and bi-lateral programs, local stakeholders to ensure universal access to TB medicines at all levels of the health system to:

• Identify and map key stakeholders and their contributions in the country’s TB medicines supply system, including both domestic and international.
• Establish communication with the NTP, MOH, key stakeholders, and inform of the activity purpose, vision, methodology, and desired outcomes.
• Study all available donor and partner reports from 2012-2013 to establish baseline for SIAPS indicators (e.g. information on stock-outs, numbers of emergency procurements, delays, overstock and waste, etc.).
• In conjunction with the local counterparts, collect dataand maintain evidence of the countries’ TB medicines supply practices, such as related to: TB recording and reporting (data pertaining to supply management); inventory management; procurement processes and lead-times (including MOH, GDF, TGF, etc); forecasting; quantification; supply planning; data flows and data collection tools; data quality assurance; early warning mechanisms for preventing stock-outs/wastage.
• Identify feasible interventions option aimed at strengthening the TB medicines supply system and improving access to TB medicines, discuss with stakeholders,develop a strengthening plan and have it endorsed by NTP and relevant stakeholders.
• If required, draft MOU or other type of agreement defining roles and responsibilities of SIAPS and MOH/NTP, and have it approvedby NTP/MOH.
• Work collaboratively and leverage funds with partners as needed to achieve desired outcomes.
• Introduce and support implementation of Quan TB as an Early Warning tool building on the existing country’s platforms, gain acceptance, develop capacity building plan with NTPandensure Early Warning System (EWS) reports are produced in the GDF-QuanTB format).
• Collaborate with NTP and key partners to develop SOPs for Quan TB as EWS; identify and train key users.
• Collect country data and forecast first and second line TB medicine requirements with NTP and key partner and document assumptions and get consensus from key stakeholders to finalize forecasting or quantification.
• Generate quarterly activity reports from QuanTB to inform NTP and other key in country partners about TB medicine status and proposed solutions.
• Under the leadership of the NTP, establish a coordination routine with the WHO , USAID, GDF Regional Supply Officers (RSOs), TGF and other partners to report country EWS data on the quarterly basis, communicate potential TB medicines problems and work closely with key persons to address problems.
• Establish a mechanism to monitor the TB medicines supply lead times(GDF, GF and MOH lead times) and communicate the performance to NTPs and partners involved in the supply system; immediately report non-compliance with the lead times to NTPs and partners.
• Upon receiving endorsement from NTP, report progress to SIAPS TB Core quarterly: SIAPS country TA indicators, EWS report (QuanTB or other tools summary files).
• Upon request, promote and assist the NTP and SIAPS in the implementation of the CPM/SIAPS TB tools for strengthening/improving the adherence and use of TB medicines, such as Medicines Use Review for MDR-TB tool, MDR-TB Risk Management tool, engaging private drug outlets in TB case finding and other.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in a health-related field; physician or pharmacist qualification preferred.
• Specialized training and/or experience relating to pharmaceutical systems, management information systems, supply chain management or pharmaceutical services.
• Relevant experience in the implementation of international and country TB prevention, care, and treatment programs, strengthening of National TB programs, and experience with management of medicines supply and information systems for TB.
• Experience with programs supported by bilateral agencies such as USAID and international agencies such as the Global Fund, the Global Drug Facility.
• Ability to write lucid technical reports and documents in English is required.
• Competence in use of word processing programs required, and experience with spreadsheets and database applications strongly preferred.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously; excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively in a team spirit.
• Ability and availability to travel in-country and internationally 30% of time or more.

Application Closing Date
21st November, 2014

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