Country Support Associate, MDR-TB

Recruitment Team

 Background on Drug Access Team and Laboratory Services Team:

 

The hallmark of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) approach is simultaneous and intensive engagement on the demand and supply sides of the market. On the demand side, CHAI's country teams help governments to overcome barriers to scale up treatment programs and, for malaria and tuberculosis in select countries, overcome barriers to access through partnerships with the private sector. Meanwhile, the Access Program (AXP) works to address supply-side barriers to access and foster a healthy marketplace to ensure the sustainable supply of life-saving commodities for the diagnosis and treatment of endemic diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The AXP works to attract new suppliers, lower drug prices, encourage the adoption of stringent quality standards, and facilitate the uptake of important new or improved products. Within the AXP, the Global Laboratory Services Team (LST) and the Global Drug Access Team (DAT) are key sources of support for Ministries of Health and CHAI country teams, and work to address barriers to access and foster a healthy competitive marketplace for essential medicines and diagnostic testing. LST and DAT play a leading role in coordinating work globally on access to diagnostics and medicines, working closely with manufacturers, governments, and multilateral organizations to lower prices, increase access to quality care, and accelerate the entry and uptake of optimized products.

 

Specifically, the MDR-TB program aims to expand access to care by reducing the price and increasing supply security of existing and future MDR-TB drugs. Improving the systems for commodity management and linking drug and diagnostic services in-country will help National Tuberculosis Programs (NTPs) reach their scale-up targets more quickly and consistently. The resulting larger and more predictable volumes of MDR-TB drugs can then be leveraged to improve supplier participation in the market and secure lower prices. The improved prices and more reliable supply will then enable increased patient enrollments, bringing larger product volumes, and contributing to market sustainability. This is especially true as access to rapid molecular diagnosis continues to expand. This is a unique and ambitious project that takes an integrated diagnostics and treatment approach to in-country engagement, supported by and providing input to supply-side engagement to lower the price of existing drugs and facilitate access to drugs that are new to the market.

 

Position:

The Country Support Associate will work to ensure the rapid scale-up and effective management of high-quality treatments and diagnostics for endemic diseases, focusing primarily on multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), and in the process become a trusted advisor to governments and CHAI country teams alike. Specifically, the Country Support Associate will travel frequently between countries helping to optimize policies and processes to ensure access to high quality MDR-TB drugs and diagnostic testing. In addition, the Country Support Associate will also work to ensure that countries have adopted best practices in forecasting and procurement of TB and MDR-TB drugs and diagnostic commodities.

 

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding credentials, analytical ability, and communication skills. The candidate must be self-driven, adaptable and have a high level of comfort with ambiguity. They will be expected to function independently and flexibly, with little to no oversight. They must be self-assured, a fast learner, resilient, and a strong team player. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic.

 

• Serve as a trusted advisor to governments and CHAI country teams on a variety of topics relating to access to medicines and diagnostic devices (e.g., drug quality and pricing, diagnostic accuracy and pricing, procurement, forecasting, new product introduction, product tradeoffs, implementation planning and scale-up)
• Provide project management and coordination support on projects across multiple CHAI focal countries, with multiple work streams in each country
• Act as the focal point to manage the relationship between CHAI country teams and global DAT and LST members
• Share best practices across country program to ensure knowledge is shared on the strategies, tools and experiences of all programs
• Help countries to build their capacity on quantification issues