Country: Sierra Leone
Closing date: 31 Oct 2016
Position Title: Health Policy Advisor to the Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health and Sanitation
Reports To: Medical Director, PIH Sierra Leone
Location: Sierra Leone (based in Kono District)
Organizational Profile:
Partners In Health (PIH) is an international health organization relentlessly committed to improving the health of the poor and marginalized. PIH partners with local governments to build local capacity and works closely with impoverished communities to deliver high-quality health care, address the root causes of illness, train providers, advance research, and advocate for global policy change.
PIH currently has implementation programs in Haiti, Rwanda, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Peru, Mexico, Russia, Sierra Leone and Navajo Nation. Through our partnership with Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we support a wide range of programs in dozens of other countries around the world.
PIH-Sierra Leone Background:
Partners In Health (PIH) was asked by the Government of Sierra Leone to join the Ebola response in September 2014. Although PIH is not an emergency response organization, we felt the moral obligation to join the response, given the intense need in West Africa and our organizational expertise, skills and resources.
PIH arrived in Sierra Leone at a time when the situation was worsening every day and when there were very few external partners providing direct clinical care or Ebola facility clinical management. Within a matter of weeks, PIH rapidly transitioned from planning to implementation and scale-up of operations in Sierra Leone to address the growing needs of the population and help tackle an exponentially worsening EVD epidemic. Rapid scale up allowed PIH to have an immediate and sizeable impact in four districts—at the height of our response we provided clinical care at 16 facilities and managed a network of more than 1,000 Ebola community health workers, providing surveillance, support and referrals in rural communities.
Although we launched our Sierra Leone program as part of an emergency response, from the beginning PIH intended to make a long-term commitment to Sierra Leone to ensure a crisis like this could never happen again. Thus in the midst of this response, PIH worked to build operational systems and staffing that would provide a solid platform for broader health system strengthening.
Before the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak, Sierra Leone had some of the worst health outcomes of any country in the world, and the worst of any country where Partners In Health works. Ebola devastated an already fragile health system—loss of staff and shaken community confidence in health facilities have led to the further deterioration of health services and outcomes over the last year. Ebola survivors need critical time-sensitive care, but many are not being reached by existing piecemeal coverage.
Ambitious investments in Sierra Leone’s health system now will not only ensure such a large-scale outbreak can never occur again, but also that the country never returns to the gratuitously high pre-Ebola baseline levels of sickness and death from preventable and treatable illnesses.
Given current global attention and funding committed to West Africa, there is an opportunity for PIH to support Sierra Leone in taking its health system in a fundamentally different direction. Partners In Health is committed to leveraging these resources to support the Government of Sierra Leone in bold efforts to build a health system that will extend and improve the quality of life for millions of Sierra Leoneans.
Post-Ebola recovery and systems strengthening does not just mean expanded infection prevention and control programs, but rather transformative training programs and catalytic investments in the most underserved communities. Sierra Leone requires model teaching hospitals, world-class training programs and high quality service delivery, and PIH will work over the next 5 years to make those aspirations realities.
Public sector accompaniment is the backbone of PIH’s strategy for improving health access and outcomes in Sierra Leone. In addition to working directly within public sector facilities in Port Loko and Kono Districts, PIH will support the Government of Sierra Leone in developing and implementing evidence-based policies that raise the standard of care for the poor across the country.
General Responsibilities:
The Health Policy Advisor will serve as an advisor to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone. S/he will support coordination of planning processes and completion of technical documents, as well as assist in communication with relevant stakeholders.
The Health Policy Advisor will report directly and will be accountable to the CMO. The Health Policy Advisor will also work with PIH-Sierra Leone leadership on an ongoing basis in support of this work.
Specific Responsibilities:
Responsibilities to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation
- Review and support the completion of technical documents relating to Post-Ebola transition and recovery planning
- Evaluate and provide technical review to specific projects and/or programs as requested by the CMO
- Represent the Office of the CMO at various Ministry, partner and funder meetings
- Prepare routine briefings and communication materials to ensure streamlined advocacy efforts among government stakeholders and partners
- Develop routine communication mechanisms to ensure dissemination of decisions and follow-up items to relevant stakeholders
- Develop strong working relationships with key stakeholders including government focal points, international partners, donors and NGOs, and ensure maximum coordination of resources and effort for successful implementation
- Convene government stakeholders as necessary to provide leadership for the respective technical division and Ebola recovery efforts
- Collaborate with government focal points to ensure skills transfer and government ownership, identify the most critical hurdles to implementation, and develop innovative strategies to address them.
- Liaise closely with technical partners in government to monitor and evaluate interventions against objectives and targets, bringing in technical expertise when needed to ensure rapid implementation
- Serve as an advisor to the Chief Medical Officer; carry out requests as needed, including general coordination and administrative support to the CMO
Responsibilities to PIH
- Support the Director of Policy and Partnerships and Executive Director to identify and define PIH's overall strategy on national policy assistance and advocacy, develop clear operational plans for execution, and continually identify opportunities for PIH to add value and maximize impact
- Provide analysis and updates on key MOHS policies and priorities relevant to PIH’s work to Director of Policy and Partnerships and Executive Director
- Coordinate with PIH technical experts in areas of key interest to the CMO and MOHS to provide inputs to technical processes as needed
- Identify critical gaps in MOHS policy development or implementation capacity where PIH or other partner support would be beneficial
- Perform other tasks as necessary
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree in public health, public policy/administration or other related field preferred
- Demonstrated strong analytical, leadership, and problem solving skills
- Comfortable both with advising senior political leadership, as well as at a working at a peer level with other civil servants
- Ability to navigate complex government processes with multiple influencers, and to negotiate and achieve consensus
- Excellent planning and prioritization skills as well as creative problem-solving and analytical skills
- Strong project management and time management skills; highly organized and detail-oriented
- Proven ability to build relationships with a range of stakeholders and drive immediate results
- Entrepreneurial mindset, including ability to work independently, self-motivate and propose and implement new initiatives
- Ability to work independently and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment and handle multiple tasks simultaneously
- Proven ability to build relationships with a range of stakeholders and drive immediate results
- Previous role advising senior leadership preferred
- Demonstrated strong writing skills
- Ability to work with humility and achieve results
- High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications
- Exemplary interpersonal skills; ability to collaborate effectively with culturally diverse staff across departments and country.
- Interest in social justice strongly desirable
- Ability to live full-time in Sierra Leone required
How to apply:
Apply on our career site: Health Policy Advisor