Background:

Nigeria is working towards meeting the global 95-95-95 target by 2030. As the country progress towards achieving epidemic control, the challenge is to ensure that current efforts are sustained in the long term. Transitioning to chronic HIV care after epidemic control requires People Living with HIV (PLHIV) to engage with the health care system in an ongoing chronic care relationship for the remainder of their lives. Clinical mentoring has been identified as critical to building successful networks of trained health workers for supporting clinical teams in HIV care and treatment for the long term. In this light, NASCP with the support of CDC and in collaboration with stakeholders is currently implementing the Clinical Mentorship Programme to ensure sustained provision of quality HIV services at all levels of care. Through this programme, a pool of mentors was created and trained at national and state levels to provide ongoing support for capacity building of healthcare workers, reviewing clinical cases, solving problems, reinforcing guidelines and ensuring high quality HIV care. The HIV Clinical mentorship programme in Nigeria is designed to strengthen healthcare systems by providing continuous education to healthcare workers and aims to create more efficient clinical systems. It involves relationship-building, identification of areas for improvement, coaching and modeling, advocacy, and data collection and reporting. The programme is currently providing clinical mentorship in 19 States, Purpose The main purpose of clinical mentorship is to provide teaching and support to health care workers in delivery of care and treatment services. A mentor may also work with facility administrators and staff to address systems and resource issues that affect quality of care. In this regard, the National Clinical Mentors will provide mentorship to healthcare workers in line with the National HIV Clinical Mentorship guideline and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in support of PMTCT Scale-up implementation in 19 States.

Responsibilities:

<p>The candidate will &nbsp;serve&nbsp; as a technical liaison officer between NASCP and the state mentorship programme , by undertaking the following:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Provide on-site clinical training to clinicians on HIV services &nbsp;according to the national guidelines, including adult and pediatric ART and the management &nbsp;of tuberculosis and other opportunistic diseases.</li> <li>Provide training through clinical consultation, assisting local clinicians to identify key bottlenecks affecting patients&rsquo; access to services and work through solution(s)</li> <li>Provide Continuous medical education, which may include didactic training sessions to health professionals, as needed. All training will be in accordance with the national guidelines.</li> <li>&nbsp;Provide capacity building sessions for health workers using various methodologies (including use of project ECHO low bandwidth video conferencing)</li> <li>Assist as requested with facilitating sessions on the weekly ECHO videoconferencing sessions with health workers from various sites in the states</li> <li>Develop standard operating procedures for the provision of HIV clinical care at the health facility in collaboration with the ministry of health and other stakeholders. This may include troubleshooting problems with the patient flow, tracking defaulters, or clarifying referral pathways by developing appropriate algorithms&nbsp;</li> <li>Submit a monthly report on training and clinical mentorship activities, as well as findings and recommendations for strengthening services in the health facility and compliance with the national treatment guidelines</li> <li>Perform other duties related to clinical mentoring as assigned</li> <li>Work closely with the state mentorship team&nbsp; (a representative from SASCP team and NTTA resident in the state)</li> </ul>

Qualifications & Skills:

<ul> <li>qualification/Masters level training in Public Health, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics or Obstetrics will be an advantage.</li> <li>Must be registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria</li> <li>At least 5 years&rsquo; experience with clinical HIV and AIDS care, including the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART)</li> <li>Must have at least 2 years&rsquo; experience with program planning, assessment, and implementation of HIV clinical care program. Experience in the provision of HIV clinical training</li> <li>Previous experience in HIV-related operational research is an advantage</li> <li>Good knowledge of current trends and normative guidance (national and international) in HIV clinical care and service delivery.</li> <li>&nbsp;Additional 2 years of experience in coordinating multi-disciplinary HIV clinical teams for effective service delivery will be an added value.</li> <li>Willingness to travel to clinics and hospitals in assigned geographical areas</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a name="_Hlk118291266">The key competences for the National Clinical Mentors (NCMs)</a></strong></p> <ul> <li>Demonstrable coaching and mentoring ability</li> <li>Strong organizing, planning, and prioritizing skills</li> <li>Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with people of different backgrounds</li> <li>Ability to apply problem-solving skills to ongoing challenge.</li> <li>Sensitivity to different cultural working environments</li> <li>Ability to analyze and interpret data, and write reports</li> <li>Capacity to operate both as a team player in large diverse teams as well as individually.</li> <li>Self-motivated with a strong work ethic</li> <li>Proficiency in the computers and software/applications such as Microsoft processing, power point, Excel, database management, as well as Internet browsers, google sheet, email operation, virtual or ECHO teleconferencing.</li> </ul>

Deliverables:

Contracting & Accountability:

The National Clinical Mentors will be accountable to NASCP

Renumeration:

S/he will be paid competitive fees for the agreed duration based on qualification and experience and in line with the approved rate for this assignment.

Deadline:

Deadline for submission of application for this position is Fri Mar 03 2023 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time). Any application sent in after the set deadline will be disqualified.