HIV / AIDS Focal Person

Organisation:      Ministry of Health
Funding Source: Global Fund
Reports to: Team Leader
                
About US:

The Government of the Republic of Uganda under the Ministry of Health has received funding from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to support among other things recruitment of key staff to assist in improvement of the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) grant performance.

The goals of the Health Systems Strengthening grant are to:

• Strengthen the Procurement and Supply Management (PSM) system
  
• Support improvements in the Management Information Systems and Monitoring and Support community involvement in the delivery of health services
  

Additionally, the National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) is under the department of the National Disease Control (NDC) in the Ministry of Health. NTLP’s overall functions are to establish country wide quality diagnosis and treatment services for TB and Leprosy and to coordinate the implementation of TB and Leprosy control activities. Under the National Program is a National TB Reference Laboratory whose functions are; to provide technical guidance to all TB diagnostic facilities and standardization of Laboratory TB and Leprosy provide technical supervision and training of laboratory staff on TB and Leprosy Diagnosis Techniques, Confirmation of drug resistant TB and provide follow up culture and drug susceptible tests as a national referral facility. It also supports coordinated drug resistant TB surveillance and technical support roll out of new laboratory technologies and support their uptake and utilization. It also carries out operational research activities.

Job Summary: 

The HIV/AIDS Focal Person will support the regional performance monitoring team by carrying out regular site support supervision visits to individual health units located within the region to provide training and ongoing mentoring of core program staff on information and management skills.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• In charge of monitoring and documentation of program progress, identifying weaknesses, Technical Assistance needs, lessons learnt, and best practices
  
• Providing technical support in performance improvement and implementation of the HIV/AIDS Program activities in the respective region.
  
• Coordinating regular tracking of results relevant to core HIV/AIDS program targets and report to the respective national level program offices
  
• Carrying out quarterly performance audits and feedback in their respective regions, taking care to involve the participation of district authorities, Area Teams, FCO and other stakeholders
  
• Collating program monitoring and evaluation reports on quarterly,semester and annual basis to the National AIDS Control Program, HMIS and the FCO
  
• Working closely with the FCO Quality Assurance Manager to ensure that all Global Fund Sub-Recipients/health units are reporting correctly, following the set guidelines
  
• The incumbent will be required to develop mentoring guidelines and conduct on-job training as well as mentoring of relevant programmatic staff in HIV/AIDS reporting and basic M&E.
  
• Performing any other duties as assigned by the team leader.
  
  

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The ideal candidates must have either MBChB or Bachelors in Nursing plus Post Graduate qualifications in Public Health, Demography, population studies or the equivalent from a reputable university.
• Additional training in HIV/AIDs care and programs and/or M&E and related courses will be an added advantage.
  
• A minimum of three years of postgraduate working experience.
  
• Prior work experience in a rural setting and experience in an HIV/AIDS program is desirable.
  
• Specific knowledge on key HIV/AIDS indicators, treatment guidelines will be considered a strong advantage.
  
• Computer literacy is a MUST.
  
• Competences in management, team building skills, knowledge of national policies and guidelines that impact on HIV/AIDS are preferred.