Consultant at National AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections Control and Hepatitis Programme (NASCP)

Background

• As the number of patients experiencing treatment failure rises, drug resistance in HIV management is becoming an emerging problem in Nigeria's National ART program.
• A committee of expert clinicians from the National Task Team on ART (NTTA) was formed to provide guidance and technical support to clinicians managing patients who were failing on 2nd-line ARVs. However, the cost of conducting Drug Resistance Test (DRT) is prohibitively expensive for most patients.
• According to NASCP data, 1,789 PLHIV are failing 2nd line ARVs in fifty-five (55) facilities.
• Given the foregoing, there is a need to reach out to these patients and determine whether or not they are actually failing on second-line ARVs by collecting blood samples from them and conduct a genotypic resistance testing.
• Global fund gave approval for the DRT to be conducted free (at no cost) for these patients to determine treatment failure and to engage consultants to coordinate the process.
• Purpose In light of the foregoing, the National AIDS/STIs Control Programme (NASCP) issued a Rapid Advice on the management of patients failing second-line ARVs; however, direct implementation of this Advice by clinicians remains sub-optimal, resulting in low uptake of third-line drugs.
• To that end, two consultants will be hired to consolidate the process of determining actual treatment failure from patients who are said to be failing 2nd line ARVs across a number of Nigerian facilities.

Responsibilities
The Consultants will provide support to NASCP (Treatment and Laboratory components) in the various tasks outlined below:

• Protocol development
• Consolidate the planning of sample collection from the failing patients
• Analysis of the results of the DRT and develop a report of findings
• Submit final report of the entire process.
• Discuss the findings with clinicians to aid management of these patients
• Undertake any other task or responsibility required to provide oversight to the entire process

Deliverables
The consultants should submit to NASCP the following:

• A work plan of activities to be completed and time schedule for the assignment/contract within 2 days of signing the contract.
• Draft protocol
• The finalized report of the process in both hard and soft copies at the end of the assignment
• Contracting & Accountability:
• The consultant will be accountable to the National Coordinator NASCP.

Qualifications & Skills
Consultant 1:
The requisite qualifications of the Consultant shall include the following:

• Must be a Practicing Consultant in a Public or Private institution
• A Consultant in Hematology, should have a minimum of 7 years’ hands on experience as a HIV Treatment physician
• Consultant should have an excellent knowledge on HIV Drug Resistance and Treatment failure.
• Should have track records in implementation science, monitoring and evaluation, by providing evidence such as engagement letter, reference letter or acknowledged report for similar job.
• Good communication, writing and training skills
• Ability to motivate, inspire and achieve results will be an added advantage
• Proficient in the use of IT, especially MS Word, Excel and related packages

Consultant 2:
The requisite qualifications of the Consultant shall include the following:

• Must be a Practicing consultant in a public or private institution.
• Consultant should have a minimum of 5 years’ experience as a HIV treatment physician with excellent knowledge about genotypic testing and analysis.
• Should have track records in Laboratory monitoring and evaluation, by providing evidence such as engagement letter, reference letter or acknowledged report for similar job.
• Good communication, writing and training skills
• Should be working in WHO Drug Resistance accredited Laboratory in Nigeria
• Proficient in the use of IT, especially MS Word, Excel and related packages

Renumeration
The consultants will be paid based on qualification and experience