August 27, 2024

Clinton Health Access Initiative

Panamá

OTHER

Associate, Vector Control & Entomological Surveillance, Panama

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.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: 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.

About the Team:

In 2014, CHAI began working in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) to support the Ministries of Health in their goal to eliminate malaria. Since then, CHAI has continuously grown in the region and has worked on multiple projects including Digital Health, Dengue, Essential Medicines, Medical Oxygen; providing support to various countries: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, among others.

CHAI’s LAC Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases program provides direct technical and operational support to countries in the region to strengthen their vector borne diseases programs and reduce the burden of malaria, dengue, and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

In Panama, CHAI’s LAC Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases program is helping the government to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, to achieve malaria elimination and to reduce the incidence and mortality of dengue.

Overview of Role
CHAI seeks to recruit a highly motivated team member to expand and coordinate our efforts to optimize the selection, the coverage, impact and cost-effectiveness of vector control interventions and entomological surveillance for malaria and dengue in countries in Central America. The Associate will mostly support the Ministry of Health of Panama to collect and analyze data to select appropriate vector control interventions, to target them to the right populations and places, to plan and execute their implementation and to monitor their performance. Additionally, provide support for malaria-related activities focused on reducing cases in the field. However, the Associate will be sometimes requested to provide support and travel to other countries in the region needed.

The candidate must be able to work independently and build strong relationships with counterparts in the ministry of health and partners institutions to drive progress. The candidate must be willing to travel to relatively remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care. Additionally, the candidate should be highly motivated, committed to producing results and should have robust organizational, problem-solving and communication skills. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

This role will report directly to CHAI’s Country Program Manager in Panama. Technical backstopping will be provided by CHAI’s Regional Technical Advisor on Vector Control and Entomological Surveillance.

This position is based in Panama City, Panama. This role requires travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.

Responsibilities:

Provide technical and operational support with selecting, targeting, planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and evaluating vector control interventions for malaria and dengue, and conducting needed entomological surveillance. This will include:
- Serving as a trusted adviser to the government on issues related to vector control and entomological surveillance, specifically to translate corresponding normative guidance and new scientific evidence into practical programs.
- Identify key gaps in vector control that hamper effective control of vector-borne diseases and develop strategies to fill these gaps.
- Assist the government in developing or updating national vector control, entomological surveillance and resistance monitoring and management plans.
- Help malaria and dengue programs to plan for the introduction of new effective vector control tools as they come into market (e.g. spatial repellents, Wolbachia, ATSBs, transgenic mosquitoes).
- Help the government in devising and budgeting annual work plans for vector control and entomology.
- Develop and/or update vector control technical content in national disease control and elimination strategies guidelines, plans and in donor proposals.
- Using available data to support the government in selecting the most appropriate vector control interventions, combining them as needed and targeting them to the right places and populations.
- Help develop operational plans, operating procedures, and associated training materials for the adequate implementation of vector control activities, based on prior country experiences and global best practices.
- Support the monitoring of vector control interventions, such as LLIN durability monitoring or IRS residual efficacy monitoring, including developing plans, protocols, SOPs, data collection forms and providing day to day field support.
- Assist the government in designing and implementing optimal entomological surveillance systems to address key programmatic question to guide vector control.
- Contribute to collating data and conducting analysis to evaluate the impact of vector control interventions.
- Support the government to timely monitor and address biological and non-biological threats to vector control (e.g. insecticide resistance, introduction of invasive species, unplanned urbanization, climate change).
- Support case management and field activities aimed at reducing malaria cases.Contribute to the ideation and drafting of new project proposals.
- Proactively developing and maintaining strong working relationships with key stakeholders across government and non-governmental organizations.
- Collaborate with the government in disseminating results and learnings to internal and external audiences, via reports, publications and summary decks.

Qualifications:

Master in entomology, vector control, infectious disease control, biology, medicine, public health, global health, veterinary medicine, or a related field plus 3+ years of experience working on vector control and/or entomological surveillance OR bachelor’s degree on the same fields plus 5+ years of working experience.
Previous experience working on Anopheles and Aedes
Able to travel frequently ~50% time (within Panama, and elsewhere to attend conferences or events).
Demonstrated ability to translate scientific evidence into actionable insights for decision-making.
Excellent communication and writing skills, including fluency in MS Excel, Power Point, and Word.
Strong organization, prioritization, time management and project management skills.
Demonstrated ability to work independently in unstructured settings and to adapt to new environments and challenges.
Ability to be effective, patient, and thoughtful in high-pressure situations.
Ability to work in a fast-paced and multicultural environment.
Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and act upon new technical knowledge.
Written and verbal fluency in Spanish and English.