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 is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Program Overview

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women in Zimbabwe, with about 3043 new cases and more than 1900 deaths in 2020 accounting for 19% of the overall Cancer morbidity and mortality according to the WHO Global Cancer Observatory. However, this is preventable through several initiatives which include HPV vaccination, screening of women and treatment of precancerous lesions identified. The Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Childcare (MoHCC) committed to the WHO global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer through the achievement of 90% HPV vaccination coverage, 70% screening coverage, and 90% access to treatment for cervical pre-cancer and cancer by year 2030. Together with other local partners, CHAI has been working since 2019 to implement an HPV pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating human papillomavirus (HPV) screening and treatment of precancerous lesions into routine health care for cervical cancer prevention. Now that the operational feasibility has been proven, the project is expanding to new provinces as well as incorporating additional screening and treatment methods.

Position Overview

CHAI is looking for a Program Officer – Access Programs (from here on “Officer”) to support the government of Zimbabwe with the expansion of cervical cancer screening and treatment services. The Officer, Access Programs will be a key member of CHAI Zimbabwe’s team and is expected to develop and deploy robust data management and patient tracking models to assist with effective management of patients. HPV testing increases access to cervical cancer screening but moves programming away from a single visit approach. This increases the risk of low linkage to care rates and loss to follow up. The Officer will develop systems through LIMS programming and other innovative m-health solutions which will result in a subsequent increase in treatment coverage. The LIMS enabled systems will facilitate centralized pooling of all screen-positive clients and tracking them across the care continuum. The Officer will help design the data management and patient tracking models, training materials for providers, as well as manage frequent field visits to train providers, lead implementation, supervise progress, and collect data. Travel for this position to project sites in Mashonaland East can be expected at 30-50% of the time within Zimbabwe.

The position requires a highly motivated individual with outstanding analytical grounding and strong problem-solving abilities. The Officer is required to work with government officials and partners, and must have excellent relationship building, communication and negotiation skills. They must be able to function independently and have a strong commitment to excellence with a keen eye for detail. They should also exhibit several important personal qualities resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, strong professional ethic, highest level of integrity and self-confidence.

The Officer will be based in Harare, travelling to project sites in Mashonaland East and will report to the Program Manager – Access Programs.

• Work with the CHAI country and global teams and other key partners to provide technical assistance in the development of a low-cost LIMS based data management and patient tracking tools, which are easy to implement and scale-up to reach women quickly outside health centers
• Set up mHealth technologies interventions that will use short-text message services as a solution for linkage to care in the cervical cancer prevention program in Zimbabwe
• Set up supporting structures at the laboratory and facility levels to enable efficient patient tracking noting when clients should return, scheduling appointments and communicating with the clients as well as key focal persons
• Develop effective and sustainable training programs, quality assurance programs and data management systems to support accelerated roll-out of new data management and patient tracking initiatives
• Develop a system to flag records (e.g., a “ticker box”) and identify clients needing treatment or post-treatment follow-up, flag clients due for testing, schedule subsequent screening appointments (3- or 5-year intervals for HPV negative clients)
• Engage and train Community Health Care Workers to follow up non-responsive clients (who do not return / do not have a phone/do not have reliable phone service/network etc.) requiring onward linkage to care
• Identify opportunities as well as build relations/network with CHAI country and global teams, partners, and key stakeholder to expand the LIMS/SMS system to other disease areas
• Support other activities as directed by supervisors and management
• Bachelor’s degree in Science, Economics, Mathematics, Business, or a related quantitative discipline
• Minimum 2 years’ work experience in consulting, research or related
• Strong analytical (quantitative and qualitative) and communication (written and verbal) skills
• Technical proficiency with MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and MS Word
• Able to adapt to fast-paced and changing environments, both internally and externally
• Experience in composing high-quality briefs, proposals, technical reports, guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is desirable
• Experience in conceiving, planning, and executing programs or projects with verifiable results and little external support

Advantages

• Master’s degree
• Background in health-related field, laboratory science
• Exposure to health information management systems
• Previous experience with CHAI or another similar organization
• Experience working with governments and international partners in Zimbabwe
• Knowledge of cervical cancer