Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone and GOALs Response to Date
The 2014 Ebola outbreak is the largest Ebola outbreak in history and the first in West Africa. The current outbreak is affecting multiple countries in West Africa with Sierra Leone first reporting cases in March of last year. As of May 2015, Sierra Leone has recorded 12,148 suspect, probable, and confirmed cases. GOAL has been working in Sierra Leone since 1999 and has been active in the Ebola Health response since the outbreak was declared. Due to the scale of the outbreak in Sierra Leone GOAL scaled up cross-cutting responses in health, WASH, and protection in order to provide assistance to the large numbers of people who are affected by this outbreak.
Summary of Role:
GOAL is supporting the implementation of infection prevention and control in five hospitals throughout Sierra Leone. Rigorous infection control systems need to be in place to reduce EVD transmission risks for health workers and communities, in order to restore confidence in the hospitals and overall health system. The IPC Nurse Specialist will be embedded in the hospital for nine months in order to provide day to day support to improve IPC standards and support the establishment of Ministry of Health and internal hospital infection control committees.
Key Responsibilities
- Participate in the national IPC in-hospital working group. Contribute to development of SOPs and training manuals
- Work with the hospital Patient Safety Committee (PSC) to ensure implementation and strengthening of infection control procedures
- Conduct IPC trainings for hospital staff, together with the MoHS IPC focal person
- Work with MoHS colleagues to ensure implementation of proper IPC practices
- Conduct rounds in hospital wards, discussing and monitoring infection control practices with staff
- Support the management of infection control data at the hospital. Investigate all incidences of health worker and patient infections and report on incidents to the hospital IPC committee.
- Support the hospital management team to identify IPC incidents and investigate the causes, as well as develop and implement IPC quality improvement plans
- Co-chair the newly formed Hospital IPC Committee and liaise with hospital administration about any challenges or issues that arise. Support hospital with broader advocacy both within and outside the hospital when needed.
- Submit regular program and training reports to GOAL on IPC quality assurance and project objectives.
- Ensure highest standards of child protection by abiding to GOAL’s Child Protection Policy and Code of Behaviour.
- Sign and commit to GOAL’s Child Protection Code of Behaviour.
- Coordinate the facilitation of basic Child Protection trainings for staff.
- Be aware and abide to the provisions of legal instruments of child protection such as in the Child Rights Act -2007 of Sierra Leone and the provisions in the UNCRC -1989.
- Willingness to attend basic child protection trainings as required.
Requirements:
- Registered Nurse or equivalent qualification.
- Significant experience in infection prevention and control practice and training.
- Experience in management of programs and personnel.
- Willingness and ability to work in a stressful and constantly changing clinical environment.
- Strong leadership and planning skills
- Works well both independently and in teams.
- Experienced in engaging in external environments and can confidently represent GOAL in high profile networks and meetings.
Contract Duration: 9 months
Salary:€30,000 - €32,000
Any published closing dates are estimated. Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date. We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.
