Country Associate, Malaria Elimination- Low Endemic Countries

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI's global malaria program provides direct technical and operational support to countries around the globe to strengthen their malaria programs and reduce the burden of this preventable, treatable disease. We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria-related illnesses and deaths worldwide in the short-term and accelerating progress towards malaria elimination in the long term.

Several countries in the Mesoamerica region have committed to eliminate malaria by 2020. To reach this target, countries will need to rapidly detect and effectively treat infections, to identify and aggressively target areas where malaria transmission persists, and to coordinate efforts closely to ensure movements of people and parasites do not jeopardize success. Achievement of this goal across the region will bring the world one step closer to global malaria eradication. Over the past two and half years, CHAI has helped malaria programs make meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards malaria elimination by 2020. CHAI is supporting malaria programs in Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Haiti, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and Belize to strengthen surveillance systems, devise targeted and evidence-based plans, successfully implement these plans and interventions, and scale-up interventions in high-risk and hard-to-reach populations.

Overview of role

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong organizational and management skills to provide direct technical and operational support to National Malaria Programs from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Belize as they plan and execute effective programs for the last mile of malaria elimination and seek to sustain that achievement indefinitely. The Country Associate will focus primarily on supporting the Program Manager in assessing any remaining gaps to elimination, completing requirements for WHO certification, and strengthening and/or integrating case management and surveillance systems for long-term sustainability.

The successful candidate will work with a range of CHAI's operational and technical staff as well as diverse national stakeholders, and will therefore need to possess strong communication and organizational skills. He or she must be able to build and manage effective relationships, have strong communication and organization skills, and drive successful implementation while having a deep personal commitment to producing results. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

The base location for this position will be Panama. This role requires travel to higher risk, remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.

Requirements:

• Serve as a trusted adviser to the Ministries of Health staff on issues related to WHO requirements for malaria elimination certification
• Provide operational assistance to national malaria programs to identify and close the remaining gaps to sustainable malaria elimination
• Support evaluation of the national programs against WHO requirements for elimination certification, and help programs plan processes for achieving all requirements
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders from government and partner organizations from public health and academia
• Support internal strategic planning processes related to how best to prioritize CHAI resources to develop solutions to rapidly address bottlenecks
• Develop operational plans and associated training materials as needed to build government capacity and support effective execution of malaria program
• Work closely with regional technical teams and Program Manager to ensure deliverable or results
• Proactively develop and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders across government and non-governmental organizations
• Develop detailed operational plans, operating procedures, and associated training materials to build government capacity and support effective execution of malaria program
• Represent CHAI in external meetings as needed

• Bachelor's degree plus 3 - 5 years of work experience
• Strong problem solving skills and analytical capabilities
• Detail-oriented with strong organization skills
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently
• Experience living and working in resource-limited areas
• Ability to work well both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships in a challenging politically unstable environment
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Ability to travel extensively (+70%); comfortable traveling to remote areas
• Experience living or working in Central America
• Fluency in Spanish; proficiency level in English is a plus

Advantages

• Advanced degree in public health or business
• Experience executing successful health projects in developing countries, ideally malaria-specific projects
• Experience developing database systems and using statistical software for data analysis
• Experience working with governments and institutions from Latin America
• Experience in working with malaria and/or other infectious diseases
• Driver's license

Apply Here: http://www.Click2apply.net/8xcxf2cxfvdrd4jz

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