KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV) is one of the leading international non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. We are an international center of expertise for TB control that stimulates effective, efficient and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national and international context. We are an organization of passionate TB professionals, including medical doctors, researchers, training experts, nurses and epidemiologists.
Over the past century, we have built a wealth of knowledge and expertise, initially by successfully driving back TB in the Netherlands, and subsequently by partnering in the fight against TB in over 40 countries worldwide.
We operate from a central office in The Hague in the Netherlands and additional country offices worldwide. KNCV raises funds from individual, institutional and corporate donors. In Ethiopia, KNCV has more than 15 years of experience in comprehensive TB program support of the national program.
Background
Ongoing transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a major obstacle to the United Nations (UN) End-TB strategy. To reach targets of 90% reduction in tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality by 2035, implementation of new and improved diagnostic and treatment approaches are urgently warranted. This study will adopt a Triage-and-Treat approach using novel TB diagnostic technologies to guide implementation of short, all-oral regimens for DR-TB.
The TriAD study is a multi-center, multi-country Prospective Pragmatic Cohort study assessing the effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of implementing the GeneXpert MTB/XDR (Xpert XDR; Cepheid) assay for rapid triage-and-treatment of DR-TB. The proposed study aims to screen approximately 4800 GeneXpert MTB/RIF or Ultra positive (irrespective of rifampicin resistance status) patients from 9 study sites in South Africa (2), Nigeria (6) and Ethiopia (5) to enroll 880 rifampicin-resistant (RR, cohort 1) and 400 isoniazid-resistant (HR, cohort 2) patients. The Xpert XDR assay that tests for resistance to isoniazid, fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable agents, will be implemented as a reflex test to provide rapid genotypic susceptibility testing for DR-TB detection and its result will be used for selection of appropriate, evidence-based all-oral DR-TB treatment regimens of shortest possible duration. In parallel, the molecular bacterial load assay will be used to provide bacillary load monitoring over the course of treatment to assess real-time treatment response.
Successful implementation of an intervention depends on its feasibility and acceptability to both intervention recipients (e.g., patients) and deliverers (e.g., HCWs). By assessing its feasibility, strengths and weaknesses of the approach will be revealed. It can help identify opportunities and threats in practice, which allows improvements to be made. If an intervention is considered acceptable, patients are more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations and to benefit from improved clinical outcomes. From the perspective of healthcare professionals, if the delivery of a particular intervention to patients is considered to have low acceptability, the intervention may not be delivered as intended (by intervention designers), which may have an impact on the overall effectiveness of the intervention. To fit an intervention to its user’s needs and thus improve acceptability; experiences, thoughts, believes and opinions of the users should be determined. Qualitative research allows us to retrieve rich data on the perspectives of people involved.
In Ethiopia, this project is carried out by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) in collaboration with KNCV. The interviews will take place in five of the study sites (Alert, St Peter, Adama /Geda TIC, Dilchora and Borumeda Hospital) for TRiAD study.
Purpose of the position and organizational position
To ensure effective implementation of rapid triaging and the Xpert MTB/XDR, under the TrIAD project, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation will conduct a feasibility and acceptability study, which consists of qualitative data collection and analyses. To collect data for the indicated research projects, data collectors who are experienced and competent in qualitative data collection are needed. The data collectors are co-responsible for field work, scheduling interviews, enrolling participants, obtaining informed consent, and keeping both electronically recorded and paper-based collected data safely until reported to the local research officer. Furthermore, the data collectors will perform in-depth qualitative interviews with health care workers, TB patients, and policymakers.
The interviewer also works closely with the local research officer and researchers from KNCV Head Quarters. He/she is also responsible for maintaining data quality in field, and daily collected data reporting.
Duties and responsibilities
Data Collection
Data Analysis
The analysis includes the following:
Number Required: 2 (Two)
Time Schedule :June 1, 2023 – June 30,2023
What do we offer?
Qualifications and experience: