Health Management Information System (HMIS) and Disease Surveillance Advisor (Local Hire Only)

Job Description

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) seeks a HMIS and Disease Surveillance Advisor for a 5 -year USAID-funded Accessible Continuum of Care and Essential Services Sustained (ACCESS) program in Madagascar. The purpose of the program is to build the capacity of Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) actors at the district level and below in all districts in the implementation regions, to design, develop, manage, deliver, monitor and evaluate health services and programs in their catchment areas. The activity will also engage with regional health authorities with limited interventions to ensure coordination, planning and effective management of health activities in their districts. Work at the national level will focus on informing policy, guideline development, as well as advocacy on key health service delivery issues. ACCESS will work to improve the clinical skills and health governance skills of primary health care providers to deliver high quality, accessible preventive and curative health services. To expand the reach of the public health system, the activity will work to improve the skills and motivation of community health volunteers to deliver quality health services and ensure they work under the supervision of their respective CSB. Finally, ACCESS will promote positive health behaviors, including care seeking behaviors in the target communities through a comprehensive and contextualized social and behavior change (SBC) approach and improve the capacity of the MOPH and local institutions to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate SBC activities.

The HMIS and Disease Surveillance Advisor Manager is responsible providing assistance to the MoPH at national and subnational level to strengthen the existing routine information systems, in particular the routine health information system and the disease surveillance response system, to ensure correctness, timeliness, completeness of the data in those systems, analysis that provides information, that allows the MoPH and partners to make sound decisions for improved health system management, based on the data. (S)he will assist the MoPH to harmonize data collection at the community level, thus facilitating the inclusion of community level data in the routine the routine health information system and the disease surveillance response system. (S)he will support the relevant MOPH departments, and multilateral partners in building a unified and standardized national HMIS using DHIS 2.

Must be legally authorized to work in Madagascar.

1. At the national level, collaborate with the relevant MOPH departments, and multilateral partners in building a unified and standardized national HMIS using DHIS 2. This includes ensuring that data at all levels can be disaggregated by sex.
2. Advocate harmonizing data reporting for all partners at the community level and for systematically integrating community data into monthly CSB activity repor
3. Collaborate with the MOPH and MEASURE to ensure the availability and distribution of training materials, data collection tools, and guidelines to EMADs and health facilities.
4. Provide advice to the MOPH and its agencies on eHealth and mobile health technologies to enhance the quality of service delivery.
5. Work with the stakeholder groups including the MOH and its agencies, to train health teams on HMIS tools.
6. Promote the use of dashboards appropriate for data interpretation, display and use at the district, CBS, and CHV level to monitor progress toward agreed-upon targets for key health indicators at each level and take timely action for improvement.
7. Assist community leaders, facility staff, and EMAD to act in a timely way on possible health emergencies.
8. Collaborate closely with the MERL unit in the project to allow use of the data of the routine health information system and the disease surveillance response system for project monitoring and evaluation as much as possible.
9. Collaborate closely with the MERL unit in the project to identify the need of and provide TA to the Regional and District MEL & HMIS specialist as well as their EMAR and EMAD partners.
10. Participate in regular meetings of project senior management team.
11. Perform any other duties as assigned by the project director.

1. Masters level degree in a relevant field such as public health, public administration, health administration, demography, statistics, computing, epidemiology.
2. 5 years of demonstrated expertise, with substantial developing country context experience, in facilitation of health information system strengthening, including central level coordination and systems integration, and sub-national strengthening for quality data collection and analysis, and dissemination and use of health information.
3. A post graduate diploma in computer science will be an added advantage
4. Demonstrated experience in strengthening health information systems (HIS)
5. Previous experience using DHIS-2 is a plus.
6. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
7. Previous experience in a developing country context is required.
8. Ability to travel within Madagascar and elsewhere as needed.
9. High level of professionalism and confidentiality.

About the Organization

Management Sciences for Health, an international nonprofit organization, is dedicated to closing the gap between what is known and what is done about public health problems. 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 30 country offices and our US headquarters, our staff from 65 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is a nonprofit international health organization composed of more than 2,000 people from 73 nations. Their mission is 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. Together with their partners, they are helping managers and leaders in developing countries to create stronger management systems that improve health services for the greatest health impact.

EXPERTISE

MSH takes an integrated approach to building high-impact sustainable programs that address critical challenges in leadership, health systems management, human resources, and medicines. Simply put, they support stronger health systems for greater health impact.

Their expertise in these areas falls into the broad categories of management functions—for example, leadership and governance or pharmaceutical management—and health areas like tuberculosis or maternal, newborn, and child health. They apply their expertise by

• Partnering with governments, local organizations, and communities in developing nations to build their own capacity for long-term health impact;
• Providing global leadership in critical areas of health management and health care delivery;
• Bringing the best of MSH from around the globe to the people we serve, working as One MSH with a focus on lasting health system improvements.

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Leadership, Governance, & Management

They work with in-country partners to build stronger health systems to improve:

• the management and leadership of priority health programs, health organizations, and multisectoral partnerships such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, developing a critical mass of managers at all levels of the health system who can lead and inspire teams to achieve results;
  
• the management systems of health organizations in the public and private sector, transferring practical approaches and skills to ensure that management structures contribute to sustainable organizational success;
  
• the governance and management of health organizations and multisectoral partnerships, facilitating change and transferring knowledge to enable organizations to administer their resources efficiently and scale up their services.

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Health Service Delivery

MSH combines extensive public health expertise, proven service delivery approaches, and evidence-based interventions in five critical areas:

• HIV & AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Maternal, newborn, and child health
• Family planning and reproductive health
• Other communicable diseases, including malaria and pandemic and avian influenza

Human Resources for Health

MSH helps governments develop multisectoral strategies and policies to plan and manage their health workforces. We use a comprehensive approach that addresses all the facets of human resources for health needed to achieve an adequate supply of well-trained and motivated health workers. MSH offers capabilities in leadership, human resource management, education, partnerships, policy, and finance to achieve these goals.

Pharmaceutical Management

Vital to our success is a participatory approach to project design and implementation, which cultivates broad-based support from all stakeholders. We also build and improve infrastructure and local capacity to effectively purchase, store, deliver, and use quality essential medicines.

Health Care Financing

MSH helps governments and NGOs assess their current financial situation and systems, understand service costs, and develop initiatives to use existing funds more effectively and generate additional revenue—all with the goal of supporting a nation’s health priorities.

Health Information

MSH has developed proven methods for rapidly strengthening the analysis and use of existing health data—normally at the province, district, and facility levels—without revising existing recording and reporting requirements. With an emphasis on learning through action, district teams undertake assessments of health services, identify gaps in performance, and design solutions to support better decision-making and, therefore, better management of improved services.

MSH has worked closely with the Health Metrics Network of the WHO to develop a comprehensive approach for enhancing the performance of health information systems and data by employing a practical, strategic planning process that can be carried out by national working groups.