Announcements

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY SERVICES
Republic of Sierra Leone
National HIV/AIDS Secretariat
REF NO: SO1/NAS/GF/010/2019
Date issued: 21st March 2019
Position: Physician for HIV and AIDS Treatment and Care at the National HIV/AIDS Secretariat.
Duration: 12 months
Reporting: Programme Manager, National HIV/AIDS control Programme (NACP), MOHS
Remuneration: Negotiable
The Government of Sierra Leone has received a Grant from the Global Fund for the implementation of Sierra Leone HIV/AIDS Response Programme and intends to apply a portion of the grant to eligible payments under the contract for which this Request for Proposals is issued.
The National HIV/AIDS Secretariat hereinafter called Principal Recipient) acting on behalf of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) now invites applications to provide the following consulting services: HIV and AIDS treatment care and support in adults for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
The National HIV/AIDS programme in Sierra Leone is seeking to recruit a qualified and experienced Physician to work for the HIV/AIDS national AIDS Control programme in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned national HIV export to contribute to Sierra Leone’s HIV Care & Treatment Program. The Technical expert will work under the leadership of the National Program Manager
Position Overview
The primary purpose of the position is to strengthen the ART Programme of the national HIV and AIDS control programme in the MOHS in Sierra Leone. The TA will support the National HIV and AIDS control programme in the development and implementation of treatment, care and support services for HIV and AIDS in adults aligned with the 90-90-90 framework and the v5-year National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV 2016-2020. This will include: providing national level technical assistance to improve policies, strategies and guidelines that are evidence-based and maximize impact of the national HIV program; monitor programmatic performance on the HIV care cascade for adults and Option B+ for pregnant women, from enrolment to ART initiation, adherence and retention in care; and submit recommendations on programmatic refinement to the Director of NAS and program managers of the National HIV/AIDS control programme.
Specific areas include providing technical guidance to (1) improve the quality of care for prevention and management of HIV associated conditions in adult; (2) Strengthen basic packages of HIV care and support diagnostic support and interventions that are appropriate to the type / category of HIV care clinic; (3) address health systems bottlenecks that impact on the quality of clinical care, retention and attainment of viral suppression; (4) strengthen linkages between HIV care and support and other HIV prevention services.
The TA will interact with and provide support to, NACP staff and services provides in the public and private sector. Training and mentoring of clinical staff involved in HIV/TB treatment and care will be among major components of the TA’s Functions.
The TA will provide biomedical and programmatic expertise tailored to Sierra Leone’s health system context, and support dissemination of data and knowledge from progress in scaling-up treatment care and support programs.
Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic planning and program Management (40%)
- Direct support and clinical mentoring of clinic staff, in concert with the programme manager NACP of the MOHS and other TA’s assist in strengthening the MOHS implementation of all health services that make up the continuum of HIV care including biomedical prevention, differentiated treatment and care models and impact mitigation aspect of the health sector response to HIV and AIDS.
- Support the NACP to effectively work with all stakeholders , at policy and implementation level, within and outside the ministry , in sharing information and in promoting the interests of the MOH in contributing to the formulation of inter-sectoral, regional, international and other policies and guidelines for HIV/ AIDS treatment and care issues.
- Support the inclusion of HIV and AIDS Treatment, care and support in the development of the Ministry of Health’s Health sector strategic plan (HSSP).
- Provide technical expertise for development, updating and implementation of policies, guidelines and job aids for adult ART program.
- Work with all stake Holders to periodically review pre-service and in-service training curricula for health workers in ART,PMTCT service delivery and management of HIV related conditions and infections.
- Provide technical expertise and support district health management teams and district level implementing partners to strengthen clinical mentorship, continuous quality improvement interventions and the national quarterly supportive supervision exercise, to ensure quality of ART services at facility level.
- Provide technical support to the HIV and AIDS Treatment technical working groups and sub-groups to ensure enhanced coordination, harmonization and strengthening of HIV
Support the development of prevention, treatment and care policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures, and standardized training of health care workers.
Systems Strengthening and Capacity Building (55%)
- Facilitate the development, review and implementation of management systems and standards for technical support services such as laboratory support (including Early Infant Diagnosis Routine Viral load scale up), referral systems, drug security, drug forecasting and quantification, grant management (e.g. Global Fund grant) and monitoring and evaluation as it relates to HIV and AIDS treatment and care.
- Assist in improving access to ART for PMTCT and increased uptake of adult ART in line with the national HIV guidelines and national targets.
- Conduct on-the-job training and clinical mentoring for health care providers and house officers in HIV treatment, care and support.
- Support health care providers in the management of HIV patients through remote mechanism (telemedicine).
- Support the clinical management of in patients at the hospital level and out-patient level.
- Provide technical expertise to NACP in analyzing programmatic, surveillance and consumption data on ART as well as triangulation of data sets to better understand the situation of HIV in adult and children.
- Support the NACP programme staff in conducting supportive supervision of ART service providers for quality service country wide.
- Help in identifying and implementing innovative cost effective best practices in ART care and support.
Support Operations Research (5%)
- Support system collection and analysis of data on adult HIV service
- Assist the NACP with preparing strategies, annual work plans, quarterly and semester report and other ad hoc reports on the state of scaling up and performance of adult HIV service.
- Facilitate the development of a prioritized operations research plan in the areas of HIV prevention, treatment and care.
- Support relevant Programme staff in developing and conducting small/short research work.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Experience and knowledge of HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care activities especially in the sub Saharan Africa and, ideally first-hand experience of rapid ART scale-up.
- Experience and knowledge in HIV care and support interventions and capacity of health services delivery structure in a sub Saharan Africa setting.
- Clinical experience in HIV case management preferred
- A strong background in promoting the public health approach for service delivery in extremely resource constrained settings.
- Working experience of HIV and AIDS and other public health disease control programs in Sierra Leone.
- Close professional links with partners and experts in relevant fields and agencies.
- Familiarity with the scientific literature on HIV prevention, treatment, Care and support
- Self-starter with well-developed written and oral communication skills and the ability to work constructively and well in a multi-cultural multi-discipline setting with a wide array of experts in the field.
Qualifications and Experience
- Qualified physician with a Post Graduate Qualification
- At least five years’ experience in the area of adult HIV and AIDS treatment, care support program implementation.
- Applicant must have the clinical and public health expertise and must have demonstrated practical experience in management of adult HIV and AIDS.
Interested applicant must submit their Technical and Financial Proposal in hard copy to the address below not later than 11th April 2019 at 5:00p.m. and must specifically mention” Individual Consultancy Services for A Physician for HIV and AIDS Treatment and Care at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation”.
Attention:
National HIV/AIDS Secretariat
Alhaji DR. Momodu Sesay, Director General
15 Bellaire Park, 1, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.&This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.