We are seeking to appoint a full time multi-skilled and experienced Health Officer for Maternal and Child Health research projects to be based in Harar and Kersa, Ethiopia. The role is to support development of clinical surveillance and medical research, particularly with respect to Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance and aligned projects.
Haramaya University, Oromia, Ethiopia
Haramaya University is one of the oldest Universities in Ethiopia, with its first intake in 1954. It is about 17km from the city of Harar, 40km from Dire Dawa (where there is a regional airport), and 510km East of Addis Ababa. The College of Health and Medical Sciences is based on a campus in Harar town to facilitate training of students in nearby hospitals. This campus also hosts the office of the two Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS).
BACKGROUND
Haramaya University has formed a research collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Current research projects are focused on maternal and child health. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance network (CHAMPS, http://champshealth.org/)is a new global health surveillance network funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at understanding the causes of child death in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The core of the project is to develop laboratory, epidemiological and clinical surveillance for detection of infectious diseases in children who have died (through minimally invasive tissue sampling) and those with life-threatening illnesses. The Maternal Infection Study, an aligned research project, is investigating the contribution of infection to stillbirth and early neonatal death.
The post-holder will be responsible for working withhealth care workersand research staff to support and facilitate all research activities within the Paediatric and Maternity department. The post-holder will also be expected to support and contribute to community based CHAMPS activities as required.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
The post-holder will work as part of the team to support initiation of clinical surveillance and smooth running of clinical research activities, and will work under the guidance of the principle investigators and, where appropriate, delegated line manager.
They will be responsible for overseeing changes in clinical practice to support clinical care and surveillance (improving documentation and supporting clinical investigations). They will be responsible for recruitment of participants for CHAMPS and the maternal infection study, study sampling, ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory policies in the provision of medical care and execution of the research studies currently ongoing and those which are subsequently implemented. The post-holder will also be responsible for liaising with community health centers and planning and delivering community based health education sessions as part of the community engagement program.
Responsibilities
Responsible to:
Duration of contract
Qualifications / criteria
Essential
Desirable