Call for Ad-hoc for TB Community Case Management Officer in Benue for SMILE Project at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Reference  CodeSMILETBCMO4418.

Project Background:

CRS Nigeria leads the USAID-supported SMILE (Sustainable Mechanisms for Improving Livelihoods and Household Empowerment) consortium consisting of ActionAid Nigeria and Westat designed to scale-up care and support services for orphans and vulnerable children in FCT, Benue, Kogi, Edo, and Nasarawa by strengthening the capacity of government, civil society organizations (CSOs) and communities. SMILE seeks to improve the wellbeing of 500,000 OVC and 125,000 caregivers and will be implemented through an umbrella grants mechanism (UGM) whereby CSOs receive sub-grants to support capacity strengthening and program implementation at the community level. The project will also strengthen the Nigerian Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) response by strengthening the organizational systems and technical capacity of the five SMWASDs and targeted Local Government Areas (LGA).

The purpose of this position is to support Active childhood TB case finding (ACF) TB through close collaboration with SMILE stakeholders at LGA and communities.  Under the direction of the Technical Advisor (HIV/TB), s/he will collaborate closely with community leaders to facilitate identification of presumptive TB cases in the communities and holistic community based response to childhood TB prevention, treatment, care and support.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The Case Management Officer will identify health facilities for clinical examination of children (including growth assessment) and diagnosis (AFB test, sputum m/c/s, chest x-ray, GeneXpert testing), HTC, ART (in HIV/TB co-infection cases) and management
• She/he will ensure high standards in identification and referral of presumptive TB cases for diagnosis
• She/he will support the development of functional referral networks for community TB services and facilitate two-way referral to ensure accelerated access to TB investigation. ‘
• She/he will ensure TB investigation results are obtained in a timely manner and facilitate prompt treatment of TB cases.
• Undertake home visits to ascertain patients are accessing services- ensuring seamlessly flow of community-facility-community continuum of care for TB services.
• She/he will ensure case retention, treatment support, drug adherence, contact tracing, document treatment outcome, HIV status of TB patients and household health promotion. 
• Actively seeks and responds to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders to promote acceptance of service and encourage sustainability
• Facilitate documentation of services in the national NTP tools such as presumptive TB register and treatment register.

Qualifications and Skills:

• A community health certification or related medical professional training with a minimum of 3 years relevant experience in community TB Prevention, Care and Support services delivery.
• Experience with National TB and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP) is added advantage.
• Residence in Local government of duty is mandatory and past work experience in the LGA of duty will be added advantage
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities
• Experience working with community stakeholders such as organizing community outreaches as well as facilitating community educational activities for awareness creation and  behavior change.
• Experience in productive engagement with HCW in public and private health
• A demonstrated ability to take responsibility, work autonomously and use initiative, especially when working in communities with differing customs and believes.
• Effective communication skills in English –oral and written. Understanding of local language and cust