Jobs at Malaria Consortium

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups.
• Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age. The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities.
• The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion.
• Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes. A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms, and the national severe malaria register between 2021 and 2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks
Research Coordinator:

• Receive briefing from the Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Support training research assistants to identify severe malaria cases from registers and case notes
• Conduct monitoring and supervision of the research assistants
• Screen and validate the data collected from the study
• Analyse the study data
• Write activity and technical reports of the study
• Responsible for the day-to-day coordination and oversight of the study, including study preparation, data quality assurance, data management, progress monitoring, stakeholder coordination, documentation, and preparation of the final analysis-ready dataset.

Deliverables
Research Coordinator:

• Training report
• Monitoring and supervision report
• Data screening, validation and analysis results
• Data submitted by research assistants
• Activity and technical report

Person Specifications
Research Coordinator
Expert Profile:

• The research coordinator will have a minimum of a Master’s degree in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills:
Essential:

• Hold a postgraduate degree in health sciences, social sciences, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of research or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Experience in the use of electronic platforms to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals management system
• Excellent communication skills

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have an understanding of diverse audiences and cultures
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

go to method of application »

Project Background

• Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
• While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups. Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age.
• The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).

Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria's epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:

• Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
• Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
• Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
• Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.

Scope of work

• The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
• These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities. The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
• All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion. Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes.
• A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.

Level of Effort (LOE):

• Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms and national severe malaria register between 2021-2025.
• The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.

Specific Tasks

• Receive briefing from Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
• Identify from registers and case notes the severe malaria cases
• Work with the medical record officers to ensure that the records are retrieved, extracted and send to the electronic database using the data collection tool.
• Capture data elements available in all primary data sources, which could include:
  • Unique record ID (study-specific)
  • Facility identifier
  • Patient demographics: age (in months/years), sex, residence (urban/rural)
  • Date of admission, date of discharge/death
  • Diagnosis of Severe malaria: Clinical Diagnosis or Laboratory diagnosis of Severe Malaria
  • Pre referral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Rectal Artesunate vs. other Antimalarial
  • Parenteral Treatment (Tick as appropriate): Inj. Artesunate, Inj. Artemether, Inj. Quinine and other antimalarials (specify)
• Oral follow up to Parenteral treatment (Tick as appropriate): Oral ACTs, Oral Quinine and other forms of Oral Antimalarials
• Outcome of treatment (Tick as appropriate): Improved & Discharged, Death, Absconded / Discharged Against Medical Advice (DAMA) and Referred for further treatment
• Clinical presentation: signs/symptoms (coma, impaired consciousness, prostration, severe anemia, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, repeated convulsions, jaundice, renal impairment, shock), vital signs at admission
• Laboratory results: malaria test type and result, haemoglobin/PCV, blood glucose, parasite density (if available)
• Treatment variables: antimalarial therapy (parenteral artesunate, quinine), blood transfusion, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, supportive care (oxygen), time to first dose
• Co-morbidities and complications: HIV status (if documented), sickle cell disease, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, sepsis
• Referral source and time from symptom onset to admission

• Respond to related queries and data needs and requests from the project’s technical team and key national and sub-national partners, NMEP and SMEP.

Deliverables

• List of identified severe malaria cases in the assigned health facility
• Data extracted from all primary data sources
• Data submitted from all records.

Expert Profile

• The research assistants will have a minimum of diploma in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.

Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:

• Currently working in the pediatric or medical ward of the project hospital as a staff or volunteer
• Registered nurse/midwife, hold diploma or degree in health-related sciences, or equivalent subject-matter experience
• Significant experience in inpatient care
• Experience in the use of electronic platform to capture and report data
• Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals
• Excellent communication skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
• Have understanding of diverse audiences and culture
• Have obtained training in health research ethics.

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Purpose of the assignment

• The purpose of this ToR is to engage a technical assistant that will provide technical support to Gwagwalada Area Council, FCT between the months of September and November 2026 in the absence of a Field Assistant.
• This is to ensure all the SMC implementation activities go on as expected.

Scope

• The role of Technical Assistant is to support the quality implementation of delivery of SMC services in Gwagwalada Area Council, health facilities and at the household level.
• S/he will be responsible for planning, implementation, reporting and coordination with Gwagwalada Area Council representatives and community stakeholders.
• S/he will interact with the Area Council management team, keep them updated on the programme progress and ensure high-quality SMC implementation of SMC in Gwagwalada Area Council.
• S/he provides supportive supervision and training to the above actors and ensures adherence to SMC administration protocols. He/she interacts with the State Ministry of Health, LGA management team, keeps them updated on the program progress and ensures high-quality SMC implementation in Gwagwalada Area Council.

Specific Activities of the Technical Assistant
Programme Implementation, treatment tracking and management:

• Support implementation of all SMC activities at Gwagwalada Area Council level, including timely implementation of work plan, planning meetings, commodity distributions and monitoring to avoid any stock out, community mobilization activities, supervision, monitoring and reporting.
• Work with the Gwagwalada Area Council Field officer in ensuring accountability of received commodities and supplies through tracking consumption levels and review of reconciliation reports.
• Support capacity building of field partners (Supervisors, Health Facility Workers (HFWs), Community Drug Distributors (CDDs), and community mobilisers) through on-job support and quality supervision.
• Track program targets and timely implement the planned activities to ensure program meets targets and review reports from LGAs and HFW for accuracy and completeness prior to submission.
• Ensure implementation of activities is in line with the laid down protocols, by continuously monitoring and conducting supervision and on-job training of LGA, HFW and CHWs.
• Maintain a good relationship and work jointly with Public Health Officers and other partners to undertake home visits, meetings and to ensure LGA’s ownership.

Reporting & data quality assurance:

• Reach out to the area council for personnel that may be flagged by Compliance Unit from the database and provide timely and appropriate feedback

• Assist M&E Officer on the data quality queries and ensure identified issues are rectified in time.
• Review all field implementation reports, provide feedback on areas which needs correction and submit the final hard copy report to the Program officer after LGA Level approval.
• Ensure submission of EoC Report, success stories, trip reports etc. to the Program Officer and SPM

Coordination and representation:

• Responsible for overall coordination of Gwagwalada Area Council Team and HFW/supervisors and CDDs during training and SMC implementation
• Liaise with key stakeholders and partners including LGA Administrator, State MOH, Community leaders, other stakeholders (for their support and buy-in, resolution of disputes/conflicts etc.) ahead of SMC activities.
• Attend data validation meetings at LGA level and as directed by LGA cluster supervisor / State project manager.
• Establish and maintain links with health and other nutrition services with special attention to referral cases while working closely with the State / LGA NAFDAC focal persons

Administrative and other duties:

• Ensure the development of individual and team action plans to ensure role complementarities in achieving the set treatment target.
• Participate in the follow-up of supplies consumption.

• Compile and submit daily training reports and attendance summaries as may be required
• Ensure physical inventory of all SMC commodities supplied to all HF at the end of each cycle.
• Any other duties as required by the line manager.

Deliverables:

• Comprehensive End of Cycles Reports within two days after implementation.
• Complete Reverse Logistics of used and unused SPAQ after each cycle.
• Follow up on Personnel payment.
• Attend all Meetings at LGA level (planning meeting, EOC, DVM).
• Support SPAQ distribution to HF from the LGA transit point.
• Detailed TA report on MC report template, clearly highlighting specific tasks/role during the period of engagement submitted at least 2days after completion of the engagement.

Qualifications and Experience

• Clinical Officer, nurse, social science, science, or any other Public Health-related qualification with at least five years’ field experience in SMC Implementation.
• Fluency in English, Hausa and/or other local languages is required.
• Experience working in drug/commodity supply management, M&E and logistics.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences including LGA staff, HFW and community leaders.
• Must be familiar with the use of Survey CTO and Microsoft Office suite.
• Experience in conducting quality supportive supervision and data use.