Malaria Surveillance Officer

Medical Care Development International Division

8401 Colesville Road, Suite 425, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

Phone:

www.mcdinternational.org

Job Announcement

Malaria Surveillance Officer

Organization Overview

The international division of Medical Care Development, MCDI, was founded in 1977 with the belief that MCD’s successful approach to health systems development in the rural United States could be adapted to meet the needs of developing nations.  A global non-profit organization, MCDI uses practical, evidence-based and high-impact approaches to strengthen health systems in developing countries. For almost 40 years, MCDI has implemented public health programs in over 40 countries aimed at targeting the world’s most vulnerable populations. MCDI collaborates with donors, national governments, the private sector, health agencies, communities and local stakeholders to improve health and save lives in the following areas: malaria control; maternal, neonatal and child health; water, sanitation and hygiene; tuberculosis; HIV/AIDS; and other communicable diseases.

Our Silver Spring, MD office has a team of highly skilled, intelligent, and driven experts in public health that are committed to improving the health of vulnerable populations through integrated, sustainable and locally driven interventions.

Overview of the Position

MCDI is seeks to recruit two malaria surveillance officers for the ProAct study under the USAID funded project Impact Malaria. The two positions shall be based out in Chadiza, in the Eastern part of Zambia. The malaria surveillance officers will form part of the ProAct study team that includes Impact Malaria consortium organizations led by PSI with technical leadership from UCSF and management leadership and coordination by MCDI. The Impact Malaria team is supported by PMI/USAID and CDC technical experts. This position will also work in close collaboration with Ministry of health at provincial, district, facility and community level to implement active case detection (ACD) study activity in Chadiza.

Essential Job Functions:

This position is contractual for one to three years depending on the needs expressed by USAID and reports to the MCDI/Impact Malaria Senior Diagnostics Advisor/Project Coordinator for Zambia.

RESPONSIBILITY:

• Provide supervision for the study enumerators
• Provide quality control of data
• Provide as surveillance technical support.
• Provide technical inputs to the study work plan and budgets for study activities.
• Build capacity to the in country level at district, facility and community level through training and coaching.
• Work with MCDI finance and administration staff to develop training activity budgets, manage workshops, study logistics and ensure activities comply with USAID rules/regulations and MCDI policies and procedures.
• In close collaboration with NMEC parasitology laboratory and diagnostic staff, provide the technical assistance to strengthen the accuracy, completeness timeliness of malaria diagnosis and reporting into an assigned database
• Proper collection and storage of samples for PCR testing.

REQUIREMENTS:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline such as Biomedical Sciences, Parasitology, or any health related fields. MPH will be an added advantage
• 3-5 years of work experience in designing, implementing and managing project study. Research experience would be a great advantage
• Experience in private health sector is an asset
• Ability to effectively train and coach of community health workers
• Ability to communicate, oral or written,  technical issues effectively and in-line with the study protocol
• Experience in writing scientific report, manuscript and peer-reviewed publications.
• Flexibility and willingness to work with minimum supervision. Good working attitude, dynamic and ability to work well individually as well as in teams.
• Self-motivation, willingness to learn, service-orientation and ability to work under high pressure and within a limited period.
• Strong proficiency in   Microsoft Office suite
• Experience with electronic data collection and reporting platforms
• Professional working English, additional local languages would be an added asset.

APPLICATION SHOULD INCLUDE:

• A cover letter
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae
• Photocopy of related certification
• Three employment references (Name, phone number, email address)

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