State Technical Malaria Lead, Kebbi - REACH Malaria at PATH

The Organization for Innovation in Public Health (OIPH, PATH’s local affiliate in Nigeria) seeks a State Technical Malaria Lead for the Nigeria project team for the USG-funded Reaching every at-risk community and household with malaria services (PMI REACH Malaria) global project. PMI REACH Malaria aims to provide implementation support services and technical assistance to countries to accelerate progress in comprehensive delivery of facility and community-based malaria services, including malaria case management, prevention of malaria in pregnancy (MiP), seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), health systems strengthening, data collection and use for service delivery, and other malaria prevention interventions.  

The position will report to the REACH Malaria Project State Coordinator with a dotted reporting line to the REACH Malaria Technical Manager at country level. S/he will be responsible for supporting the State Coordinator with technical leadership of the program by providing malaria technical expertise in the conceptualization and implementation of state systems and processes to support effective and efficient delivery of malaria services. S/he will serve as a resource for up-to-date technical information on malaria control and elimination to key stakeholders including the State Malaria Elimination Program. The position will oversee malaria services quality assurance initiatives at the state level including improvements to diagnosis through RDTs and microscopy, and accurate treatment of both severe and uncomplicated cases of malaria using national treatment guidelines; IPTp, iCCM, and SMC implementation where applicable.  

Key Responsibilities 

• Provide technical leadership in the development and monitoring of the state malaria annual work plan (AOP) and work closely with the State Coordinator to implement and monitor departmental work plans. 
• Engage the State Malaria Elimination Program, SPHCDA, HMB, and relevant SMOH entities and partners to share progress, accomplishments, and challenges and ensure common understanding of current as well as future malaria technical direction. 
• Interacts with the key stakeholders in the malaria partnership at state level 
• Collaborate with the State Coordinator and the Finance and Operations team to optimize and utilize project resources in the most efficient way to achieve project results. 
• Lead and supervise the project’s malaria technical team at the state level 
• Build capacity of SMEP and roll out a mentoring and supportive supervision program at all levels of the state health system  
• Provide technical inputs to the work of the state M&E Specialist  in the development and implementation of a project surveillance monitoring and evaluation (SME) system including tracking the malaria cascade (persons with fever, tested with RDT/microscopy, positives treated with ACT, and outcome of treatment) and the related commodity data. 
• Provide TA to the SMEP on effective engagement of private sector health service providers in planning and implementation of state malaria elimination programs 
• Contribute to writing project reports, documentation of good practices, and technical publications 

Qualifications and Experience 

• Advanced degree in health and postgraduate qualification in public health or a related discipline 
• Good understanding of the Nigerian health system and the inter­relationships within the public and private health sector 
• Minimum of three years of progressively responsible experience working on malaria control in the public and private health sectors in Nigeria 
• In depth knowledge of malaria and public health principles with proven technical skills in malaria, including malaria case management, and integrated community case management of childhood illnesses 
• Experience working with Ministry of Health and other Health Departments/Agencies on policy and strategy formulation at national and/or subnational levels. 
• Experience with broader human resource capacity building 
• Significant experience in project management, program coordination and sound negotiation skills with malaria partners. 
• Excellent organizational, leadership, analytical, supervisory in-service delivery and team-buildings skills; and, 
• Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills. 
• Strong work ethic, resourcefulness, integrity, credibility, and dedication to PATH’s mission.    
• Professional proficiency in English required.