Associate - Malaria

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

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Programme Overview:

To combat devastating effects of Malaria, the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) was launched in 1953 built around three key activities - insecticidal residual spray (IRS) with DDT; monitoring and surveillance of cases; and treatment of patients. India has made significant strides in reducing malaria-related deaths and cases and has committed to malaria elimination by 2030. The Malaria program has shifted its focus from control to elimination strategies.

National Centre for Vector Borne Disease Control (NCVBDC) is the central nodal agency for prevention and control of six vector borne diseases (VBDs) i.e. Malaria, Dengue, Lymphatic Filariasis, Kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis and Chikungunya in India. NCVBDC is responsible for framing technical guidelines & policies as to guide the states for implementation of the above mentioned six diseases, programme strategies & is also responsible for budgeting and planning the logistics pertaining to supply of certain commodities.

Project Background:

India has made significant strides in reducing malaria-related deaths by 78% and cases by 81% in 2023 (compared to 2015). The malaria elimination program is housed under NCVBDC. NCVBDC is also supported by the Global fund in strengthening its efforts towards malaria elimination by 2030. This project aims to provide techno-managerial support to NCVBDC and selected States to provide support in areas that are not the focus of the Global fund grant and help maximize the impact of activities planned under Global Fund. This will be done through a gap assessment while engaging with policy makers at national and state levels. Based on the feedback from policy makers and mapping of critical areas of work laid out in the National Strategic Plan, the project will develop a way forward to prioritize and refine interventions and enable the development of an intervention package.

Position Summary:

WJCF is seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding credentials and demonstrated analytical abilities to work closely with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare/NCVBDC in coordination with WJCF. Associate will help NCVBDC in accelerating malaria elimination in India. The Associate will provide technical support in strengthening program management including M&E to facilitate data backed decision making, strengthening governance and capacity building initiatives. They will also support data collation, analysis and visualization and identification of innovative approaches/technologies to support the elimination goals.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities:

• Under the guidance of the Manager and NCVBDC, co-create and monitor the strategic direction of the Malaria programme and ensure consistent improvements in strengthening management and governance, service delivery, supply chain, and other elimination aspects.
• Work closely with Malaria team to align priorities and develop and manage relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Analyse the trends and discern patterns from available data for data backed decision making
• Under guidance of NCVBDC, review existing M&E systems, vector surveillance tools and indicators in use by the government and relevant partners; identify sources of data available and flow of information. Identify key bottlenecks towards achievement of National and state goals for overall management of Malaria
• Lead the development of programme communication approach and collaterals for external stakeholders such as government, donor, and partners for furthering programmatic and organizational outreach objectives.
• Undertake periodic visits to States/UTs and districts to identify challenges and address gaps.
• Support in design and implementation of innovative approaches and recommendations to address key surveillance gaps in the programs at the national and state level.

• Support the Manager to develop evidence-informed new initiatives for hypothesis testing, demonstrations, and scale within the ambit of existing grants and for actively writing and converting proposals for new grants
• Undertake desk research and interviews to understand the current status of the Malaria prevention and control activities that may include (indicative list) :
• GIS mapping capabilities for entomological surveillance
• Mapping of data portals and use of routine data across different health systems
• Status of cross border malaria interventions and intersectoral coordination mechanisms for malaria
• Communicate effectively across a matrixed organization and coordinate
• Other responsibilities as needed

Qualifications

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in public health, epidemiology, economics, sociology or other relevant fields with 4 years of professional experience; or master’s degree with mimimum 2 years of professional experience.
• Professional experience in a demanding private sector environment, such as strategy consulting, market research, or public sector advisory.
• Previous experience with M&E, Data analytics and dashboard development for multilateral funded projects.
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work independently in remote and unstructured settings, to work closely within and across other teams and to adapt to new environments and challenges.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, problem-solving and strong organizational abilities and detail-oriented approach.
• Willingness to travel frequently (~30-50% time) and extensively across the region, and to other trans-continental meetings.

Skills & Traits:

• Knowledge of malaria, NTDs or other global infectious disease priorities
• Experience living or working in resource-limited countries
• Experience working and communicating with government officials and multilateral organizations
• Experience working remotely with a decentralized/remote team

• Experience or knowledge of health finance, public finance, or finance for development