Nigeria: Country Support Associate, WCA Region

Clinton Health Access Initiative

The hallmark of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) approach is simultaneous and intensive engagement on the demand and supply sides of the market. On the demand side, CHAI’s country teams help governments to overcome barriers to scale up treatment programs and, for malaria, overcome barriers to access through the private sector distribution mechanisms. Meanwhile, the Drug Access Team (DAT) works to address supply-side barriers to access and foster a healthy marketplace to ensure the sustainable supply of essential medicines. The DAT works to attract new suppliers, lower drug prices, encourage the adoption of stringent quality standards, and facilitate the uptake of important new or improved products. Though CHAI’s work on marketplace improvements is organization-wide, the DAT plays the lead role in managing relationships with suppliers and coordinating the flow of information between the demand and supply sides of the market.

Position: The Country Support Associate will work to ensure the continued scale-up and effective management of high-quality treatments for HIV/AIDS patients, focusing primarily on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for pediatric patients. Specifically, the Associate will travel frequently between countries helping to optimize policies and processes to ensure access to high quality ARVs and diagnostics. In addition, the Country Support Associate will work to ensure that countries have adopted best practices in forecasting and procurement of ARVs, diagnostics and other essential medicines.

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding credentials, analytical ability, and communication skills. The candidate must be able to function independently and flexibly and have a strong commitment to excellence. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic.

This position will be based out of our CHAI Nigeria office with significant travel to: Cameroon, Burundi, CDI, DRC, Rwanda and potentially other West and Central African countries.

Responsibilities:

•Serve as a trusted advisor to governments on a variety of drug-related and access-to-medicines topics (e.g., drug quality and pricing, procurement, forecasting, new product introduction, product tradeoffs) •Work closely with donors and procurement agents to understand funding flows, ordering cycles, and delivery timelines, and ensure an uninterrupted supply of pediatric products •Support governments in maintaining pediatric treatment programs, including national Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) testing systems •Serve as a liaison between countries and CHAI global teams on pediatric forecasts and ordering cycles •Disseminate information from CHAI and other sources on pediatric treatment, supply dynamics and access-to-medicines issues •Facilitate introduction of new, improved, or less costly medicines by advising Ministries of Health on product availability and pricing and by supporting with the development of new product roll-out strategy. •Support countries in assessing opportunities for optimization of national treatment guidelines; assist with budget and scenario analysis; help develop strategy to advocate for the changes with key in-country opinion leaders •Help countries to build their capacity on quantification issues – either through leadership in forecasting workshops, participation in technical working groups, or training of forecasting models – in order to avoid stock-outs, reduce waste and minimize costs •Develop and leverage expertise in procurement and tendering best practices for medicines and other health commodities in developing countries

Qualifications:

•Bachelor’s degree plus 2-5 years of work experience •Excellent written and oral communications skills •Strong problem solving skills and analytical capabilities •Detail-oriented with strong organization skills •Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently •Ability to be effective in high-pressure situations and work in a fast-paced, limited-structure, multicultural environment •Experience living and/or working in developing countries •High level of proficiency in relevant computer applications particularly Excel, PowerPoint and Word •French fluency – both written and verbal

Pluses:

•Experience working for a management consulting firm •Pharmaceutical / healthcare industry experience •Experience working in procurement and supply chain management •Experience conducting or organizing trainings •Familiarity with global health issues

Please apply here: https://careers-chai.icims.com/jobs/3259/job