CANDIDATE PROFILE

 

• Nurse / Medical officer
• Postgraduate training in Tropical Medicine and/or Public Health
• Field experience with MSF in developing countries is essential
• A high degree of work autonomy as well as management capacity is required
• Flexibility and good communication skills
• Practical experience in vaccination activities (routine and outbreaks)
• Knowledge of spoken and written English and French is essential
• Willingness to travel and work with different field teams, at least 8 months/year

 

CONDITIONS

 

• Field Contract 1 year – Full time position - based in Brussels but with frequent field visits (70%)
• Salary according to MSF-OCB Field salary scale
• Hospital Insurance (DKV) - Pension plan – Canteen in Brussels
• Starting date: immediate

 

 

CV + cover letter to be sent before 12/09/2016 to MSF, Caroline Maes, Rue de L’Arbre Bénit 46 – 1050 Ixelles or to caroline.maes@brussels.msf.org, stating “vacci MIO position” in the title

CONTEXT

 

The Medical Department framework

The Medical Department (MED) is composed of polyvalent medical staff working in six operational cells under the responsibility of the Operation Medical coordinator, and of technical referents distributed in units under the responsibility of the Technical Strategic coordinator. The Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Unit (WHS), the Operational Research Unit, the medical expatriate’s pool managers, Epicentre and one representative of the Learning and Development Unit are also integrated in the medical department.

The technical referents are currently covering the following fields: epidemiology and infectious diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, vaccine-preventable diseases, vector-borne diseases, chronic diseases, nutrition, pharmacy, biomedical material, hospital management, hygiene, infection prevention and control, nursing care, mental health, laboratory, medical logistics, operational research, WHS, sexual and reproductive health, health promotion, medical anthropology, paediatrics, surgery, anaesthesiology, gynaecology-obstetrics, emergency care, public health and health informatics and medical training.

The role of the MED is to provide technical support and strategic guidance on medical issues to the Operation Department (OPS). This also implies open-mindedness to innovative approaches.

 

Background of the position

Vaccination has always been one of the essential components of MSF interventions in emergencies. Nevertheless, implementation of routine vaccination activities in all MSF programmes was only set as an international operational priority in 2009. Since then, integrated routine vaccination has slowly made its way to becoming the norm in the projects, although it is often not seen as a priority.

Reactive mass vaccination campaigns remain one of the core activities in vaccination, but in 2016, all MSF sections have started implementing multi-antigens preventive vaccination campaigns, as a new strategy to mitigate the disastrous effects of poor Extended Programme of Immunisation (EPI) over time, especially in chronic crisis.

In 2011, emphasis was placed on increasing the EPI coverage in all OCB projects. In order to support vaccination activities and to ensure the correct and coherent implementation of MSF polices and guidelines, the position of vaccination mobile implementation officer (MIO) was created. This position was consecutively filled by two persons for two years each, until the end of April 2016. After balancing the current situation with our ambitions, we have decided to re-open the post for one year.

Management line

The position will be managed and will be under the technical supervision of the OCB vaccine preventable diseases referent.

 

JOB PROFILE

 

General Objective of the position

Provide technical support to the field on vaccination topics through short term (2-8 weeks) focused visits.

 

Specific objectives

• Support the implementation and evaluation of routine vaccination activities.
• Support the implementation of multi-antigens preventive vaccination campaigns.
  • Support the response to outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.

 

Specific tasks in the field

 

1. Routine vaccination

• Perform briefing and debriefing with the MedCo and medical responsible of vaccination activities at project level;
• Collect all relevant country vaccination documents (national vaccination policy, pluri-annual plan, etc.) and share them with the field staff and the vaccination referent;
• Help the field situate their project within the global vaccination framework of the country and identify priority fields for improvement or lobby;
• When requested, provide support to the MedCo for negotiating with local authorities for specific vaccination activities/topics;
• Ensure that MSF vaccination policies and recommendations for targeted populations are implemented in the field (malnourished, PLHIV, pregnant women, SGBV, wounded, post splenectomy, PEP, etc.);
• Support each field to develop context specific strategies to increase their vaccination coverage (like multi-antigens preventive campaigns);
• Evaluate vaccination activities and knowledge of the staff about vaccination practice;
• Assess the equipment and material used for vaccination;
• Assess the quality of the cold chain;
• Assess the waste management;
• Assess the respect of sterility and hygiene during standard procedures of vaccination practice;
• Support the development of adapted basic messages on vaccination activities for the health promotion team;
• Support the field to improve data collection for routine vaccination activities;
• Support the field to improve stock management of vaccines and vaccination material (estimation of needs and orders);
• Conduct evaluations of missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) and promptly share the results with the field; 
• Train at least one person to autonomously perform MOV to monitor routine vaccination activities;
• Train the staff about vaccination related topics (e.g. correct vaccination practices and cold chain management).

2. Outbreak response

• Participate to the risk assessment and support the field to define priority interventions;
• Support the team in the development of the micro-plan for outbreak response;
• When necessary, adapt the job profile of the supervisor of vaccination activities and of the vaccinators;
• Support the team for ordering vaccination material and vaccines.

 

3. Additional tasks

• Participate to vaccination coverage surveys or other studies when requested;
• Participate to department meetings and trainings when needed;
• Develop a toolkit for the support of field vaccination activities and update it;
• Organize debriefing with the vaccination referent and medical responsible of the project at HQ level upon return;
• After each visit, timely write a comprehensive report including a one page summary with practical recommendations to be followed up;
• Participate in the documentation of vaccination activities and strategies.