Kenya: Child and Newborn Health Senior Advisor

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is seeking a Child and Newborn Health Senior Advisor for a 5 -year program in Kenya. The purpose of the program is to enhance access to and utilization of quality family planning, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services in selected counties and sub-counties in Kenya. Afya Uzazi activities will contribute to Kenya’s goals of ending preventable deaths among children and mothers, meeting demand for family planning services, and achieving good nutrition for optimal health of all Kenyans.

MSH saves lives and improves health by helping public and private organizations throughout the world to effectively manage people, medicines, money, and information. Working from more than 40 country offices and our Arlington, Virginia, and Medford, Massachusetts, US headquarters, our staff from more than 70 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health. We live our mission to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES

The Child and Newborn Health Senior Advisor will oversee the strengthening of provider skills in newborn healthcare services by scaling up high impact interventions and reinforcing widely accepted standard care practices. S/he will also be responsible for guiding the scale-up of the use of ORS/zinc in the management of diarrhea in private facilities. To address inequities in immunization coverage, s/he will scale up the Reaching Every Community (REC) approach. Utilizing the national Harmonized Competency Based Training Curriculum for Obstetrics and Neonatal Care, the Senior Advisor will ensure appropriate care at various levels as well as a reinforced referral system through continuous trainings and training of trainers.

He/she will also supervise and support the Child and Newborn Health Specialist, who will be based in Baringo during Project Years 1 to 3.

SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITY

He/she will lead the design and implementation of the following activities:

1. Utilizing distance learning approaches, conduct trainings to review standard newborn care practices such as early breastfeeding initiation and lactation counseling.
2. Introduce high-impact practices such as kangaroo mother care for preterm/low birth weight babies, chlorhexidine cord care, and neonatal resuscitation (Helping Babies Breathe). Additional topics will include compassionate and respectful counseling as well as injectable antibiotics for sepsis treatment.
3. Train and mentor healthcare workers at high-volume health facilities in an exchange program to ensure providers have practical supervised experience in a setting with sufficient caseload to ensure diversity and depth of experience.
4. Train trainers for the staff of private clinics and pharmacies to provide ORS/ZINC as part of their provided services.
5. Promote data review of the various mentoring and quality improvement approaches to ensure continuous provision and quality improvement.
6. Using tailored plans and Community Champions, among other approaches, collaborate with county authorities to design and implement a quality assurance strategy and to implement the Reaching Every Community (REC) approach to address inequities in immunization coverage.
7. Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Advanced degree (Masters, PhD, RN, or MD) in Public Health, Nursing, Midwifery, Medicine, or other related field.
2. A minimum of 7 years of demonstrated experience designing and implementing newborn and child healthcare interventions.
3. Previous experience implementing and managing a rigorous training system including quality assurance and improvement.
4. Experience in organizational development and human resource management a plus.
5. Demonstrated skills as an effective manager and strong skills in achieving measurable results.
6. Strong written and oral presentation skills in English required. Working knowledge of local language is recommended.
7. Willingness to relocate to Nukuru and to travel within Kenya required.

Reports To

Deputy Chief of Party

Background Information

Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a global health nonprofit organization, uses proven approaches developed over 40 years to help leaders, health managers, and communities in developing nations build stronger health systems for greater health impact. We work to save lives by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health. Since its founding in 1971, MSH has worked in over 150 countries with policy makers, health professionals, and health care consumers to improve the quality, availability and affordability of health services. Working with governments, donors, non governmental organizations, the private sector, and health agencies, MSH responds to priority health problems such as HIV & AIDS; tuberculosis; malaria; maternal, newborn and child health; family planning and reproductive health; and chronic non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and lung and heart disease. Through strengthening capacity, investing in health systems innovation, building the evidence base, and advocating for sound public health policy, MSH is committed to making a lasting difference in global health.

EEO Statement

Management Sciences for Health is an equal opportunity employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.

https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/9253/child-and-newborn-health-senior-advisor/job