Pediatric HIV/RMNCAH Officer

Background Information

The Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) is an ecumenical body and an umbrella faith-based organization established in 1992 by the Christian Council of Tanzania and the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, to coordinate and facilitate the delivery of social services (health and education) by the member churches in Tanzania. For 30 years, CSSC has been serving and coordinates a network of more than 2000 church-owned health and education facilities. These include 105 large hospitals, more than 700 lower-level health facilities and 65 middle cadre health training institutions located at Zonal, Regional and District/Council levels. In addition, CSSC coordinates a network of more than 1,000 church owned education facilities. Majority of these church health and education facilities are located in remote and rural areas where 70% of the Tanzanian population reside in those areas.

Currently, CSSC is in the 2nd year of implementing a project entitled “Pamoja Tuwekeze Afya” - (PATA) Activity. This is 5-year Activity awarded project by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)- under the Cooperative Agreement No. 720662120CA00008 to CSSC. The award intends to establish self-reliant health facilities (HFs) and improve health service delivery by the CSSC network of church-based HFs in meeting the health needs of the target population. Through cost-effective and innovative solutions, the PATA Activity will strengthen the CSSC’s capacity to deliver quality services in Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCAH), HIV/TB services and other health related areas.

Job Summary

The RMNCAH-Pediatric HIV/AIDS officer will be responsible for on ground implementation of the PATA planned interventions which include RMNCAH and Pediatric HIV interventions. His/her main role will be to provide support to the supported FBO health facilities to improve their capacity in providing RMNCAH and pediatric HIV services. Under the guidance of Integrated RMNCAH-HIV/TB Advisor he/she will participate in scaling up of PMTCT and pediatrics services including PITC, ART and Early child infant diagnosis (EID). She/he will be a technical lead on the PMTC and pediatric and will strategically provide directions to roll-out, implementation and monitoring of all interventions pertaining these programs.
The RMNCAH/ pediatric HIV officer will be based in Morogoro town with frequent travels to Morogoro districts.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Capacity building of the health care workers working in the FBO supported facilities to provide quality RMNCAH and HIV services.
2. Support the health facilities in planning, initiation and implementation of Early Infant Diagnosis program and integration of early infant diagnosis with HIV Pediatric care and treatment program including PMTCT.
3. Work closely with the Regional Health management teams (RHMT, Council Health Management teams (CHMT) and Hospital Management Teams (HMTs) in implementing innovative strategies for improving the quality of PMTCT and pediatric HIV including EID service.
4. Conduct regular supportive supervision, onsite mentorship and coaching in the supported health facilities to effectively implement HIV/AIDS, TB, maternal neo natal and child health services interventions as per the given guidelines and SOP’s.
5. Conduct operational researches for evidence-based interventions in order to improve the impact of the program.
6. Ensure services guidelines and protocols, SOPs and job Aids are available, properly and constantly used by the health care providers at the facility level.
7. To assist in program monitoring and evaluation in RMNCAH, PMTCT and Pediatric HIV care and treatment
8. Support strengthening of social accountability at health facility level through establishment and strengthening of TWGs, Stakeholder’s forums, learning sessions, MPDSR committees, Respectful Maternity Services, client satisfaction surveys, Quality Improvement teams, and Service charter utilization.
9. Support the M&E team in monitoring the site-specific key performance indicators.
10. Any other duties as directed the supervisor

Qualification

Bachelor degree in Medicine

Experiences and Skills

1. Minimum of three years (3) years relevant work experience in Pediatric HIV and RMNCAH related project
2. Experience in implementing USAID funded pediatric HIV or RMNCAH projects.
3. Experience with pediatric HIV programming
4. Experience working with PEPFAR funded programs
5. Ability to deal effectively and diplomatically with multiple government agencies, non-government organizations, faith-based organizations, and private sector
6. Proven verbal and written communication skills including a demonstrated ability to write technical documents and give state-of -the arts presentations.
7. Willingness to travel outside duty station for more than 40%
8. Fluency in Kiswahili and English