Advisor – Laboratory Services

Management and Development for Health (MDH) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose primary aim is to contribute to address public health priorities of Tanzania and world at large. The priorities include: HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis; Reproductive, Maternal, New-born and Child health (RMNCH), Nutrition; Non-Communicable Diseases of public health significance; as well as Health System Strengthening. MDH strongly believes in and works in partnership various local and global institutions, Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC); President’s Office Regional Authorities and Local Government (PORALG); donor agencies; as academic and nonacademic institutions; implementing partners; civil society, community-based and faith-based organizations and others. MDH (Sub recipient) in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting Limited (Prime) through USAID funded Comprehensive Client-Centered Health Program–HIV and Tuberculosis (C3HP HIV TB) seeks to recruit qualified individuals to fill the following vacancies based in Dar es salaam and 6 supported regions of Iringa, Lindi, Morogoro, Mtwara, Njombe and Ruvuma.

POSITION TITLE: Advisor –Laboratory Services (6 Posts)
LOCATION: Iringa, Lindi, Morogoro, Mtwara, Njombe and Ruvuma
REPORTS TO: Senior Advisor Quality Service Delivery

Position Summary: 

The Advisor-Laboratory Services is a self-motivated individual who will be responsible for providing overall technical leadership and oversight of Laboratory services implementation at respective region. This includes; keeping abreast with key advances in the area of Laboratory support and standards for the HIV and TB programs; translating into practice, key program, national and global priorities of Laboratory services for the HIV and TB programs; as well as working with and providing substantive and technical direction and assistance to other regional staff at supported region. She/he will work in close collaboration with the respective regional and district level health management teams and C3HP supported facilities.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

1. Provide oversight and lead implementation of HIV Viral load (HVL) Services by providing technical support focusing on sample collection, packaging, transportation, testing, and result reporting; o Ensure implementation of demand creation strategies for improved coverage of HVL services. o Oversee HVL testing laboratories, to ensure there is maintenance or improvement of the workflow for laboratory processes and improve TAT.
2. Strengthen Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) Service by providing technical support focusing on sample collection, packaging, transportation, testing, and result reporting.
3. Support scaled up use and maximum utilization of available point of care (POC)/GeneXpert platforms in EID for improved turnaround time of test results.
4. Support TB Diagnosis Service by providing technical support focusing on sample collection, packaging, transportation, testing, and result reporting; o Ensure maximum utilization of available GeneXpert for TB diagnosis o Strengthen integration of TB diagnostic samples transportation into the sample referral system
5. Collaborate with R/CHMTs and other stakeholders to expand and strengthen EQA services especially for HIV rapid test.
6. Coordinate with R/CHMTs to strengthen the laboratory sample referral system, and work with Couriers to facilitate sample transportation from lower sites to facilities with testing capacity, and results back to respective sites. o Ensure maximum utilization of electronic sample referral system for improved turnaround time of test results.
nafasi za kazi7. Collaborate with stakeholders to improve quality of HIV testing, by supporting the national certification program for non-laboratory HIV testers and HIV testing points, through provision of technical assistance and mentorship to participating facilities.
8. Responsible for ensuring supported sites meet national standard for laboratory practice required to support all project activities, including assessing site needs, identifying areas for quality improvement and capacity building of laboratory personnel through training and mentorship.
9. Support implementation of laboratory continuous quality improvement and quality management systems to ensure good quality clinical laboratory testing in C3HP supported sites.
10. Oversee and ensure efficient management of regional project expenditure and other resources as per approved work-plan and budget.
11. Ensure timely collection and submission of Laboratory services data as well as support strengthening of the related M&E systems – in collaboration with the M&E team.
12. Lead efforts to robustly analyse and utilize laboratory services data including HVL data to inform regional plans, priorities and resource allocation.
13. Lead efforts to identify gaps in laboratory services provision, design and implement Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiatives to address the gaps identified.
14. Prepare timely quarterly and annual narrative reports, best practices, lessons learned and other relevant documents on laboratory services as assigned by line manager.
15. Support and advise the line manager on all Laboratory services issues and perform other relevant duties as assigned by the line manager.

Requirements: Education, Work experience and Skills: 

1. Degree in Laboratory Science/Biomedical Laboratory Sciences or Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science.
2. Minimum 5 years’ work experience in public health program including 3 years’ technical expertise in Laboratory Services for HIV and TB programs.
3. Work experience in PEPFAR-funded HIV programs.
4. Experience in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), Data Analysis, Interpretation, Utilization, CQI and Operational research in the Laboratory services for HIV and TB program.
5. Ability to work and deliver under pressure and tight deadlines with minimum supervision. 6. Excellent communication (both verbal and written) and presentation skills.
7. Fluency in both written and spoken English and Swahili languages.
8. Strong computer skills (MS Excel, Word, and PowerPoint).
9. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and strong problem-solving skills.
10. Ability to travel to implementation districts a minimum of 80% of the time

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates for any of the above position should submit an application letter, a detailed copy of their CV, names and contact information (email addresses and telephone numbers) of three work related referees. The candidate MUST clearly indicate the Title of the position applied for (as it appears in the advertisement) on the heading of the email. Applications should be submitted to the Human Resource Director through email hr@mdh.or.tz by 8 th December 2021. MDH DO NOT have any agents and DO NOT charge any fees to the interested candidates. Kindly note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

The deadline for submitting the application is 08 December 2021.