State Technical Officer - John Snow India Private Limited (October 26, 2015)

State Technical Officer

Application Deadline: October 26^th, 2015

Position Type: Full-time

Company/Division: JSI

Location: Bhubaneswar/ Shimla/Panchkula/ Hyderabad

Salary: Commensurate with experience 

John Snow Inc. (JSI) is seeking a full-time State-level Immunization Technical Officer. The candidate must be willing and available to work in the state HQs of one of the following States: Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, or Andhra Pradesh.

Overview

Rotavirus diarrhoea has been consistently found to be the leading cause of hospitalizations  in India. In order to address the high burden of childhood disease and deaths from Rotavirus Diarrhoea (RD), introducing the Rotavirus vaccine (RVV) is a critical step to avert this problem in India. RVVs have already been introduced in over 50 countries, and the Indian government intends to introduce the vaccine on a rolling scale in up to four states.

JSI will be providing technical support to the introduction of RVV into the routine immunization systems of these identified states, including providing technical support and capacity building at state and district level to improve the planning, management, coordination, training, monitoring, and evaluation of RVV introduction. With a goal of achieving sustainable improvements, JSI will support these states in linking these efforts with RI strengthening as an integral part of the overall health system, so that it will be invaluable for scaling up RVV in other states of India.

Responsibilities

The State Technical Officer is a full-time position based in each of the introduction states. S/he will report to the State Technical Manager and will support the overall functioning of Rota cell including leading the state-level supply chain management activities, including reviewing the vaccine management system, cold chain availability and functionality and will establish a vaccine storage, distribution and forecasting system for uninterrupted rollout. S/he will also take necessary steps to strength the overall vaccine and cold chain management in the state.

Under the leadership of State Technical Manger, the State Technical Officer will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Support the state in estimation of Rotavirus Vaccine (RVV) requirement, stock management and distribution planning based on vaccine supply cycle from manufacturer
• Support state in conducting cold chain assessment and identify cold chain points with inadequate capacity to store RVV. Support state in augmenting cold chain capacity of identified points
• Support state in conducting training and capacity building of medical officers, cold chain handlers, data mangers and front line health workers
• Support state in designing and implementation of a communication, awareness creation and demand generation strategy for RVV
• Regularly engage with district officials and monitor progress
• Support State Technical Manager and Country Technical Manager in all domains associated with RVV introduction
• Perform additional tasks as assigned by supervisor

Qualifications and Skills

JSI seeks a results-oriented individual with the ability to produce and lead teams in producing high quality deliverables, managing multiple concurrent tasks, and meet tight deadlines with attention to detail. The successful candidate is required to have:

• Graduate in any stream with post-graduation in Public Health/Hospital management/ Business Administration/Supply chain logistics
• Minimum 5 years of work experience of working in the field of Public Health, with at least 3 years of work experience in immunization field at National/State/district level.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in strengthening RI system preferably in new vaccine introduction including logistics management and effective vaccine management  
• Knowledge of public health issues, immunization program, M&E, and supply chain management
• Excellent interpersonal relations; ability to network, work in multi-cultural team environment, and work harmoniously with multiple partners
• Capable of introducing innovative strategies
• Strong written and oral English and Hindi communication, with good presentation skills
• Good working knowledge of computer applications, especially MS office
• Strong and proven documentation and organizational skills
• Willingness to undertake field travel within allotted districts
• Indian citizen

Interested candidates should send their CV and cover letter to the following email address no later than 26 October, 2015: IndiaRota.Recruitment@jsi.com, mentioning the name of post and State of choice in the subject line ATTN: Hiring Manager.