The Pediatric Advisor will be responsible for the strategy, management, leadership, and technical direction on all aspects of pediatric clinical care and treatment for HIV/AIDS with an emphasis on pediatric antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation, retention, adherence and viral load suppression. The incumbent is expected to contribute to agency technical preparations for annual planning, implementation, analysis and reporting while ensuring that monitoring and evaluation functions feed into continuous learning and application for the Infectious Disease Team, within the interagency, and with host country counterparts. The Pediatric Advisor plays a prominent role, along with key national and expatriate staff, within the network of national, internal and external partners within the technical area of pediatric clinical care and treatment. As a USAID employee, the incumbent has the responsibility of understanding the incorporating the Agency’s five core values in all aspects of his/her work.
The incumbent will represent USAID at the technical level on all aspects of pediatric clinical care and treatment for HIV/AIDS.
As an integrated’ health office, USAID places heavy emphasis on interagency collaboration, strong linkages with the GRM, civil society and other donor agencies, and with other technical offices with USAID/Mozambique.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a leading development partner in Mozambique. USAID manages a comprehensive humanitarian and development assistance program covering health, education, agriculture, economic growth, and democracy and governance sectors. Health is USAID’s largest and most expansive portfolio (over $200 million per year) which aims to improve health outcomes in country through support of the Government of Mozambique’s (GRM) Health Sector Strategic Plan which seeks to improve access to and utilization of quality health services through a strengthened national health system. USAID is part of a unified and effective interagency team including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Departments of State and Defense, and Peace Corps which aims to fulfill both United States Government (USG) international health goals in Mozambique: to create an AIDS-free generation and to end preventable child and maternal death. To accomplish these goals, USAID’s Health Office plans, implements and monitors activities that include: HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, family planning, maternal/child health, nutrition, and water/sanitation/hygiene. The Health Office has four divisions to manage these activities oriented around: HIV/AIDS and infectious disease; ending preventable child and maternal death; strengthening health systems and commodities security; and providing efficient and effective operations within the office, with an office profile of 63 total staff.
For HIV/AIDS, USAID is a leading implementer of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in harmony with CDC, DoD, Peace Corps and Embassy Maputo. The goal of PEPFAR in Mozambique is to create an AIDS-free generation through control of the HIV epidemic via rapid adoption and application of evidence-based policies and interventions to drive progress and save lives, implemented through a partnership between the USG and the GRM that best supports host country leadership, ownership and sustainability. PEPFAR achieves this goal by working with the National HIV/AIDS Program, the National AIDS Council (Conselho Nacional de Combate ao HIV e SIDA, or CNCS), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), UNAIDS, civil society, and the private sector to target high impact interventions for populations at greatest risk in areas of greatest HIV prevalence.
PEFPAR support is focused on providing technical assistance, training, mentoring, and supportive supervision together with essential commodities and supply chain support to ensure the National HIV and AIDS Program can test, treat and suppress viral load for Mozambicans living with HIV and prevent new infections to effectively achieve an AIDS-free generation by 2030.
In 2016, the Mozambican Ministry of Health (Ministério da Saúde, or MISAU) adopted a phased implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest treatment guidelines to ‘test and treat’ all those who test positive for HIV regardless of CD4 count. Significant challenges to pediatric care and treatment include very slow growth in pediatric coverage, poor retention and slow roll-out of routine VL monitoring with high rates of pediatric virologic failure. Data show that pediatric ART monitoring, adolescent support services, and referral to community care and support services need improvement.
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) living in nine high burden districts in Mozambique will benefit from the concentrated support of the PEPFAR Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) Initiative to help protect them and their male partners from acquiring or spreading HIV. PEPFAR will also continue to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and to target services to vulnerable key and priority populations, recognizing that to support these populations means continuous advocacy for human rights and an end to gender-based violence (GBV). Supply chain, human resources, and strategic information support are critical systems that PEPFAR continues to support with laboratory support woven throughout.
USAID/Mozambique would like to hire a Pediatric Advisor to use her/his skills and experience to further support the scale up and quality of pediatric and adolescent HIV treatment and care to support the GRM’s HIV/AIDS Acceleration Plan and meet PEPFAR objectives. The incumbent will serve as an advisor to the Mission’s Integrated Health Office (IHO) and will work closely with the AIDS Free Generation Division within IHO.