Ebola Senior Technical Advisor

Description

In the first few months of 2014 an Ebola outbreak was declared in West Africa and in recent months the extent of the outbreak in particular across Sierra Leone and Liberia has become out of control. In August WHO have declared the outbreak a public health emergency of International concern. GOAL is currently working to scale up its response to the outbreak and is in the process of developing a clinical response programme for Sierra Leone as well as continuing to assess needs across the region.

As a result GOAL is seeking an experienced Ebola Senior Technical Advisor for a minimum of three months to provide technical support and leadership both to the Ebola clinical team in country and to GOAL organisationally. The ideal candidate will be an experienced Infectious Disease expert who has previously managed infectious disease outbreaks ideally in a developing country setting.

Overview of Role:
The EVD Senior Technical Advisor will provide overall technical guidance to the HQ Ebola response team and field based medical team who are deployed in supporting the Ebola Response. The EVD Advisor will work in collaboration with the global health advisor and with the country team to develop the overall clinical response strategy and ensure that the response is in line with international best practise guidelines currently in place.

S/he will ensure that the clinical and social mobilisation components of the programme are working in a complementary manner and will provide feedback to GOAL Head Office on current performance of the programme as well as future expected needs.

Key Duties

Assume technical responsibility for the following components of the Ebola response;

Clinical Services and Infection Control

1. Based on needs assessment and/or feasibility studies provide technical advice to GOAL on developing the clinical response at national, district and community level.
2. Ensure the overall provision of clinical services in consistent with best practices and is implemented in collaboration with other stakeholders.
3. Provide technical advice on the set up and operation of Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) as well as Isolation Units at community level to ensure that international standards on infection control are in place. This should include staff requirements including identification of appropriate trainings and establishing an appropriate supply chain.
4. Suggest possible interventions to ensure that the existing primary health care system continues to operate in settings of high EVD transmission.
5. Provide technical support and advice on trainings for burial teams and overall infection control for other public health teams.

Public Health

1. Ensure that appropriate EVD Social mobilisation and community surveillance systems are in place in all areas of operation.
2. Ensure that community based Public health teams are working with community leaders and EVD Treatment Facilities to build strong linkages within the referral system.

Coordination

1. Provide regular updates on the outbreak response to the GOAL Senior Management Team in Head Quarters and provide advice recommendations on future direction of the EVD response programme.
2. Liaise with other EVD response actors to include; national government, donors and other international agencies at a national and a global level and ensure that GOAL is linked in to all relevant EVD networks.
3. Provide advice on the structure and support of the overall health technical team in country both in terms of organisational development and ongoing training and support.

Person Specification

1. Infectious Disease Specialist, Public Health Physician, Epidemiologist or similar
2. At least five years of public health experience in developing countriesPrevious experience of working in and coordination of large public health emergencies or disease outbreaks

HOW TO APPLY:

http://www.candidatemanager.net/cm/Micro/JobDetails.aspx?&mid=YGTYD&sid=...