State Technical Officer at Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specialising in the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable and under privileged populations. We increasingly find our work on malaria can be effectively integrated with other similar public health interventions for greater impact and therefore expanded our remit to include child health and neglected tropical disease interventions.

We are recruiting a suitable candidate to join our team in the capacity below:

Job Title: State Technical Officer

Location: Kano
Job Type: Fixed term contract for the period of 12 months.

Job purpose

• To provide technical and management support for demonstrating implementation at scale of the Continuous Quality Improvement model of malaria diagnosis and case management of severe malaria in Kano state.

Scope of work

• The position holder will support the project activities at the state level including on-site training and supportive supervision for External Quality Assurance on microscopic malaria diagnosis and severe malaria, malaria commodity supply chain management, and annual hospital assessments.

Key working relationships:

• The position holder will report to the Project Director and work closely with the State Ministry of Health (SMoH), the State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP), public and private hospitals, partners, and other stakeholders in Kano to deliver the project's expected deliverables.

Key accountabilities
Technical contributions (70%):

• Organize and coordinate a baseline assessment on malaria diagnosis and case management of severe malaria in public and private hospitals
• Coordinate the planning and roll-out of onsite training for severe malaria case management using injectable artesunate to a team of health service providers comprising of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists
• Work with MC’s Supply Chain/Commodity Manager and Project Director to develop a procurement and distribution plan on malaria commodities such as injectable artesunate,  malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs), microscopy, and laboratory supplies
• Coordinate implementation of periodic supportive supervision on EQA for malaria microscopy and severe malaria case management
• Work with the Severe Malaria Specialist to support the conduct of annual hospital assessments to measure levels and trends in health systems readiness and quality of malaria case-management practices including EQA
• Organize feedback meetings to deliver hospital assessment findings to participating public and private hospitals
• Work with the Severe Malaria Specialist to support the establishment/strengthening of hospital quality improvement (QI) teams
• Organize post-assessment supportive follow-up visits to assess whether action QI plans have resulted in any corrective measures and quality improvement processes at hospitals
• In collaboration with SMEP, organize and coordinate an External Competency Assessment for Malaria Microscopy (ECAMM) for laboratory supervisors and reference laboratory technicians in the state
• As needed, assist in obtaining ethical approval for operational and/or implementation research of the project
• Represent MC on malaria Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and other relevant health coordinating committees at the state level with the approval of the State Team Lead
• Liaise with the SMEP, SMoH, partners, and other stakeholders for successful implementation of EQA/CQI activities in Kano state.

Project management (20%):

• Contribute and work with the relevant personnel to prepare all relevant project start-up and planning tools on time
• Contribute to project monitoring as well as generation of information from periodic evaluation activities to promote learning and inform malaria case management practices
• Prepare and submit quarterly project activity reports to the Project Director
• Contribute to project exit strategy as part of project design and ensure inclusion of relevant activities to promote sustainability within the workplan and smooth transition of the project to  the state government.

Technical performance management and quality assurance (10%):

• Contribute to the roll-out of project activities that meet MC’s technical quality standards
• Participate in learning activities to facilitate the capture, documentation, and sharing of experiential and lesson learning
• Document evidence and best practices related to the project.

Person specification
Qualifications and experience:

• Degree in Medical, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory, Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology, or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement
• 3 - 5 years’ experience in a clinical or public health settings
• Excellent project planning, management, and monitoring & evaluation skills
• A good understanding of the Nigerian health systems
• Excellent written and spoken English.

Work-based skills and competencies:

• Technical knowledge and skills in malaria programme
• Familiar with public health principles
• Familiar with monitoring and evaluation of public health programmes
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills.

Salary
Competitive.

Application Closing Date
23rd March, 2023.