Technical Officer, Pharmacy & Supply Chain Management at Heartland Alliance

Project Background

Heartland Alliance Ltd-Gte is currently implementing a USAID funded Accelerating Control for HIV Epidemic (ACE) Project in Lagos, Edo, and Bayelsa States. Implementation is targeted at promoting new and underutilized partnerships to accelerate the achievement of the HIV epidemic control in Nigeria through the delivery of high impact HIV prevention, care, and support services to general populations who are living with HIV and those at risk of contracting HIV.

The program is intended to provide evidence-based services that will deliver measurable results by addressing programmatic and systems barriers to epidemic control, including but not limited to, the following areas: HIV Case Finding and Linkage (HTS), Adult Care and Treatment, Pediatric/Adolescent Care and Treatment, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), Cervical cancer screening, TB/HIV Care, Laboratory, Health Systems Strengthening to Support Clinical Services, Expertise with the Private Sector and Operations and Implementation Research.

Job Title: Technical Officer, Pharmacy & Supply Chain Management

Technical Reporting to Senior Technical Advisor, Pharmacy & Supply Chain Management

Reports to:  State Program Manager

Location(s):  Bayelsa, Edo, Lagos

Person(s) Required:  Bayelsa (1), Edo(1), Lagos (1)

Employment Type: Full

Job Summary

Incumbent will plan and support the delivery of quality pharmaceutical care services in accordance with donor requirements and stipulated guidelines of the Federal Government of Nigeria at the state/facility level.  With technical oversight from the Senior Technical Advisor, Pharmacy & Supply Chain Management, the incumbent will provide support to the design, planning and implementation of high quality pharmaceutical care services according to national and international standards and develop guidelines, tools, SOPs and recommendations related to implementation and monitoring of pharmaceutical care total quality management.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serves as drug logistics focal person for the state office.
• Schedules ART and OIs medication orders for clients.
• Obtain and document clinical and demographic patient information.
• Serve as a member of the clinical team who are saddled with ART and PrEP switch.
• Liaise with state and PEPFAR IPs drug logistics system to ensure adequate supply of ARVs and other medications to the facilities.
• Responsible for overall coordination and processing of new ART client medication orders and reorders. This includes verifying/re-verifying new or refill prescriptions into the pharmacy information system and CRRIFF.
• Lead counselling on ART side effects and identification and reporting of adverse drug reaction.
• Train clinical team members on drug side effects and adverse drug reaction.
• Ensure proper documentation of drug utilization using stipulated tools and timely submsission of pahrmaceutical reports.
• Provide adherence counselling, client tracking and retention activities.
• Support care and support interventions at the State and Facility level.
• Attend state level meetings including TWG
• Any other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or competency required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy. Advanced Degree in Public Health or Social Science preferred
• Registration with the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria
• At least 3 years’ experience working as a hospital-based pharmacy or HIV/AIDS settings.
• Must have knowledge of and experience with HIV care and treatment medication.
• Must have previous experience working in a multidisciplinary team in a clinical setting.
• Proven experience in pharmaceutical quality assurance
• Proven ability to design and implement procedures.
• Must have a broad-based knowledge of and experience with computerized systems in pharmaceutical warehousing and QA.

Other Competencies:

• Time Management – Ability to prioritize tasks, manage time and complete projects in a fast-paced, changing environment with minimal supervision.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; Edits work for spelling and grammar; Varies writing style to meet needs; Presents numerical data effectively.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; Manages competing demands; Change’s approach or method to best fit the situation; Able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Cultural Sensitivity – Respects cultural environment in which person is working and does not act in a manner that is outwardly offensive to the local community.
• Non-discriminatory- Do not discriminate persons based on sexual orientation or gender identity, age, preferred jobs, or behavioral habits.

Language Skills:

• Excellent oral and written English communication skills.
• Knowledge of Local Language preferred.
• Demonstrated competency in public speaking.

Computer Skills:

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook/Exchange, Windows operating systems, Power Point.
• Other software routinely used by Heartland Alliance. 

Work Environment:

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• The employee will be required to co-locate with local partners usually in the same office.
• The employee is required to travel regularly to often insecure and limited resource environments.