Closing Date: Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Overview: Founded in 2002, by President William J. Clinton, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems around the world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other illnesses. Based on the premise that business oriented strategy can facilitate solutions to global health challenges, CHAI acts as a catalyst to mobilize new resources and optimize the impact of these resources to save lives, via improved organization of commodity markets and more effective local management. By working in association with governments and other NGO partners, CHAI is focused on large scale impact and, to date, CHAI has secured lower pricing agreements for treatment options in more than 70 countries. In addition, CHAI's teams are working side-by-side with over 30 governments to tackle many of the largest barriers to effective treatment and care.
The Balasahyoga (BSY) program provides services to over 60,000 HIV-infected and HIV-affected children in Andhra Pradesh, India. The holistic package of care for BSY children and their families includes health, nutrition, educational, safety net, and psychosocial support. Within the current nutrition program, Balasahyoga provides nutritional counseling and supplementation for HIV-infected children.
In collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Medical Health and Family Welfare Department and the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, Balasahyoga is assisting with the government roll-out of inpatient medical treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) through Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCs).
The Nutrition Technical Officer would be a locally based, key technical resource person for the project. He/she would help ensure proper implementation of SAM treatment, strengthen the holistic support given to patients and represent CHAI with government and external partners. This is a role that has the potential for growth, depending on a candidate's performance and commitment to nutrition issues.
Responsibilities:
1. Training and Linkages:
- Organize trainings of all pediatricians and NRC staff in SAM treatment
- Develop additional nutrition counseling trainings for NRC staff, focusing on practical information that can be given to caregivers to prevent repetition of malnutrition cycle (healthy/proper feeding in the local context with affordable foods, IYCF, immunizations, diarrhea management, transition home recipes, water sanitation and hygiene, etc)
- Create systems and tools to bridge community resources (AWWs, ICDS) to the nutrition rehabilitation units, so that patients are linked with them prior to discharge
- Assist in the management of both internal CHAI and external government workstreams, helping ensure movement on all aspects of the project (renovations, hiring, training, product/supply chain, M&E systems, community capacity building, incentive systems)
- Regularly visit NRCs to ensure smooth implementation; make other site visits, as required
- Ensure SAM treatment implementation audited by physicians trained in proper medical management every quarter
- Ensure NRC staff are also given supportive supervision to strengthen their counseling skills and ensure that families are being linked to community systems
- Make sure sustainable systems are constructed to transition implementation over to the government
- Liaise with government departments on a daily basis and work hand-in-hand to support implementation of all work streams; draft ad hoc proposals and letters to carry out work
- Participate in meetings and regularly interact with government stakeholders and external agencies to help spread understanding of national SAM-treatment guidelines; share CHAI experiences with a wider audience and vice versa
- Assist the state with any technical nutrition information they may request
Qualifications:
- Masters degree in nutrition (preferred) with at least 1-2 years work experience providing technical support to nutrition programs in the development setting; Masters degree in community medicine or public health with 2-3 years of nutrition experience specific to facility/community malnutrition management. Experience working with programs implementing inpatient management of SAM with F75/F100 extremely desirable
- Personable with the potential to be passionate about the project; ability to work well with all levels of colleagues and government officials
- Strong project management, problem-solving, and analytical capabilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong data management and analytical skills
- Experience working with/supporting Indian national programs (ICDS, NRHM, etc) at the state and national level desirable
- Extremely organized; ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and be flexible
- Capability of working in a demanding and fast-paced work environment
- Comfortable taking initiative and working both independently and collaboratively with a professionally and culturally diverse team
- High level of proficiency in relevant applications (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word)
- Private sector work experience (such as management consulting) are added pluses
