Overview:
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 Human Resources for Health, Vaccines (pneumococcal and rotavirus), Health Financing and Malaria Testing and Treatment.
Malawi is experiencing a critical shortage of nurse/midwives in rural, hard-to-reach areas, with many facilities having less than two full-time nurse/midwives staffed per facility. Nurse/midwives are the primary providers of emergency obstetric care and family planning services, so their lack of availability has a significant impact on the lives of patients, especially mothers and new-borns.
The Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program Associate will play a critical role in a program to scale-up production of critical health workers, increase deployment of health workers to high-need areas and improve retention of health workers in these areas. The project seeks to train and deploy over 1,500 new health workers by 2018, making a significant impact on the availability of health workers, particularly nurse/midwives, in providing maternal and child health services in Malawi.
The HRH Program Associate will provide analytical support to a ten-person team implementing this large-scale project that seeks to address a diverse range of bottlenecks causing Malawi’s shortage of health workers. The Associate will support the Ministry of Health in making HR policy decisions to ensure optimal use of limited resources to achieve high-impact change. The Associate will provide support to health training institutions to prepare to increase student intakes, including support in optimizing clinical rotation schedules. The Associate will also work closely with the Ministry of Health to develop models of optimal health worker distribution and deployment to high-need areas and to implement operational research studies that will lead to data-based policies to improve rural retention of health workers.
The HRH Program Associate will be based in Lilongwe, Malawi with up to 25% travel in-country, and will report to the HRH Program Manager.
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 Human Resources for Health, Vaccines (pneumococcal and rotavirus), Health Financing and Malaria Testing and Treatment.
Malawi is experiencing a critical shortage of nurse/midwives in rural, hard-to-reach areas, with many facilities having less than two full-time nurse/midwives staffed per facility. Nurse/midwives are the primary providers of emergency obstetric care and family planning services, so their lack of availability has a significant impact on the lives of patients, especially mothers and new-borns.
The Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program Associate will play a critical role in a program to scale-up production of critical health workers, increase deployment of health workers to high-need areas and improve retention of health workers in these areas. The project seeks to train and deploy over 1,500 new health workers by 2018, making a significant impact on the availability of health workers, particularly nurse/midwives, in providing maternal and child health services in Malawi.
The HRH Program Associate will provide analytical support to a ten-person team implementing this large-scale project that seeks to address a diverse range of bottlenecks causing Malawi’s shortage of health workers. The Associate will support the Ministry of Health in making HR policy decisions to ensure optimal use of limited resources to achieve high-impact change. The Associate will provide support to health training institutions to prepare to increase student intakes, including support in optimizing clinical rotation schedules. The Associate will also work closely with the Ministry of Health to develop models of optimal health worker distribution and deployment to high-need areas and to implement operational research studies that will lead to data-based policies to improve rural retention of health workers.
The HRH Program Associate will be based in Lilongwe, Malawi with up to 25% travel in-country, and will report to the HRH Program Manager.
Responsibilities:
Working in close collaboration with the Government of Malawi’s Ministry of Health (MOH), the HRH Program Associate will:
General Responsibilities:
Operational Research Studies:
General Responsibilities:
- Implement the Monitoring & Evaluation and Operational Research work streams with the HRH Program Manager;
- Provide technical advice and assistance to MOH on matters relating to strengthening HRH in Malawi;
- Build the capacity and skills of MOH and key stakeholder personnel to ensure local leadership and sustainability of the program;
- Develop regular activity work plans and budgets and ensure that deliverables and milestones are met in a timely fashion;
- Establish and foster strong relationships with Government of Malawi colleagues, regulatory bodies, training institutions and other organizations;
- Provide regular reports on program and work progress to Program Manager.
Operational Research Studies:
- Plan and design studies with CHAI colleagues, the MoH and partners;
- Manage logistics, data collection and data analysis of studies;
- Document and present study results to stakeholders;
- Promote adoption of targeted policy initiatives to mitigate the HRH shortage in Malawi;
- Create user-friendly tools with MOH to improve their decision-making capacity around optimizing deployment of health workers to high-need areas.
- Develop and manage the implementation of the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) log frame for Training Institution student tracking and monitoring, by participating in M&E trips and working closely with the M&E Program Officer;
- Work closely with the M&E Program Officer to ensure that program indicators are measured and recorded regularly.
Qualifications:
- A Bachelor’s Degree from a well-recognized, high-calibre institution;
- A minimum of 3 years’ experience in non-profit, private or public sector enterprise;
- Experience in research study development, management and implementation;
- Strong analytical skills and demonstrated technical proficiency with Stata (or other statistical analysis software) and MS Office (especially MS Excel);
- Strong verbal and written communication skills and diplomacy, with experience informing key decision makers and developing compelling presentations to stakeholders;
- Experience managing demanding and complex work plans and tight budgets;
- Experience and comfort developing and maintaining relationships with high-level staff in government and development partners;
- Ability to solve challenging problems without extensive structural or operational support;
- Ability to work independently and pro-actively, with strong attention to detail;
- Ability to adapt to fast-paced and changing environments, both internally and externally;
- Experience working internationally, particularly in Malawi or other resource poor settings;
- Excellent English language fluency, both written and verbal required
