KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation

KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against tuberculosis (TB), the first deadliest infectious disease in the world. KNCV is an international center of expertise for TB control that promotes effective, efficient, innovative and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national and international context.

Background

The Eliminate Tuberculosis from Ethiopia (ETBE) is a five-year USAID-funded project awarded to Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and its core partner KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation. The goal of the project is to reduce TB incidence and mortality to achieve End TB strategy milestones and targets by increasing the quality, access, utilization, and sustainability of TB services in Ethiopia. The project will support the Government of Ethiopia to target case detection based on prevalence; introduce highly sensitive and specific diagnostic and screening tools; and boost prevention and treatment for latent TB infection. Accordingly, through ETBE the implementing partners will find and treat 484,540 new TB patients and 14,357 MDR-TB patients and achieve treatment success rates (TSRs) of at least 95% for drug-sensitive (DS)-TB and 85% for drug-resistant (DR)-TB and an LTBI treatment target of 450,000.

Latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) is the seed bed for developing TB disease and continued transmission. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in its 2019 report that about 1.7 billion people in the world are latently infected with TB. WHO’s most recent policy provides four options to treat latent TB Infection (LTBI): weekly dose of rifapentine and isoniazid for 3 months (3HP); a daily dose of rifampicin plus isoniazid for 3 months (3RH); a daily dose of rifampicin for 3–4 months; and a daily dose of isoniazid (IPT) for at least 6 months. The short-course regimen of isoniazid and rifapentine weekly for three months (3HP) is associated with less toxicity, better adherence and similar efficacy to IPT and may be logistically easier for programs to scale up. Ethiopia has adopted all the three options of LTBI treatment.

Purpose of the position

KNCV is looking for a Senior LTBI Advisor who will lead and provide oversight for the implementation of the LTBI activities of the ETBE project and provide substantial technical assistance to the National TB Program (NTP) and the four Regional Health Offices where the project operates (Oromia, Amhara, SNNPR, Tigray).

Position in the organization

The Senior LTBI Advisor will report both functionally and hierarchically to the Technical Director / Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP). The Senior LTBI Advisor will work closely with relevant technical teams at the central and the regional level.

Duties and responsibilities

The Senior LTBI Advisor will:

• Lead the development of a scale-up and monitoring plan for 3HP and 3RH- in close coordination with the NTP focal and the four regional health bureaus TB focal persons;
• In close coordination with the NTP and other stakeholders, support updating of national guidelines and supporting materials, as needed;
• Provide technical assistance to the NTP in updating country specific implementation procedures (SOPs), job aides, educational materials and monitoring and recording tools for TB preventive therapy;
• In close coordination with the NTP and RHBs, provide training on new guideline, recording and reporting forms and educational materials;
• Support the introduction of quality improvement programs using designated approaches to continuously improve delivery of shorter course LTBI treatment options (3HP, 3HR) to PLHIV and child contacts;
• Lead the engagement of health extension workers and women development armies for retrospective and prospective contact investigation to reach 100% of eligible index cases and ensure that contacts of cases in high-load facilities are linked with community actors and the local partners of the project;
• Lead the project’s interventions on improving quality of screening for contacts by linking them with digital x-ray facilities in health facilities with demonstrated capacity;
• Lead the introduction and use the recently developed WHO LTBI care app, integrated with DHIS 2, for electronic reporting of LTBI data;
• Lead the integration of current WHO/TB-Infection Control (IC) recommendations into national IC guidelines and national initiatives (e.g., Ethiopian Hospital Reform Implementation Guidelines).
• Lead the project’s interventions to triage people with TB signs and symptoms or TB disease in all health facilities of supported regions;
• Lead the integration of mandatory screening and surveillance of TB among health care workers into national IC plan;
• Lead the collection and compilation of information for a baseline assessment at regional levels—related to LTBI;
• Contribute to the prevalence survey of LTBI in the TB elimination woredas;
• Support strengthening of routine M&E for contact investigations and TB preventive therapy, including treatment outcomes and pharmacovigilance;
• Coordinate with the project’s regional and central M&E team to gather and report information systematically;
• Provide supervision and guidance to regional and zonal level project staff and travel to project sites
• Produce monthly (an/or quarterly reports) reports to determine progress;
• Participate in technical working groups including partners meetings to coordinate implementation;
• Mentor and graduate LTBI experts at NTP and RHBs that can take over the duties and responsibilities of the senior LTBI advisor;
• Contribute to other project activities as requested by the DCOP.

What does KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation offer?

• A fixed-term contract for a year with a possibility for extension;
• An informal work atmosphere in an international environment where a pro-active mentality is appreciated;
• A highly-motivated team of experienced, self-driven colleagues;
• The salary is dependent upon education and relevant working experience;
• KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation has its own Employment Conditions Scheme;
• Full-time employment consists of 40 hours per week.

Who are we looking for?

Education

• Medical Doctor or BSc in public health or nursing - with a masters’ degree in public health, epidemiology or equivalent.

Knowledge/Experience

• In depth knowledge of TB and LTBI from clinical and programmatic perspectives, and based on local NTP and WHO policies;
• Demonstrated experience (at least 7 years) working in TB program/projects and interventions;
• Demonstrated experience in providing technical assistance to TB program implementation at national or subnational level;
• Substantial experience in developing implementation/operational plans and contributing to various TB program tools;
• Substantial experience in developing progress reports.

Behavioral competencies and skills

• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels (government, NGOs and local community based organizations);
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• Country national preferable, conversant in the local language;
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently;
• Ability to cope with a demanding work environment and to organize and prioritize workload;
• Ability to work in a national and international team.