Country

Panama

City

Panama City

Type

Full Time

Program (Division)

Infectious Disease - Global Malaria

Additional Location Description

This position may based in other countries where CHAI operates in the region, pending leadership approval.

Telecommute

No

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

CHAI’s global malaria & neglected tropical diseases program provides direct technical and operational support to countries around the world to strengthen their vector borne diseases programs and reduce the burden of malaria, dengue, and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria, dengue and NTD-related illnesses and deaths worldwide.

Overview of CHAI´s dengue control project

An estimated 50-100 million dengue cases occur each year, claiming >40,000 lives and imposing a global economic burden of $9-$39 billion. Without intervention, this number will continue to escalate due to warming temperatures and urbanization. To date, dengue control efforts have primarily focused on traditional mosquito control measures, such as treating larval habitats and fogging. However, these approaches will be inadequate to address the mounting dengue. Innovative approaches to combat this escalating threat are urgently required.

Wolbachia-based interventions to control dengue and other arboviruses have demonstrated promising efficacy and long-term protection. Certain strains of Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria that infects insects, inhibit viral growth in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, demonstrating potential for reducing disease transmission. To unlock the global potential of this technology, there is a need to enhance the cost-efficiency of Wolbachia programs. This will involve the establishment of a comprehensive political, funding, and market ecosystem to facilitate the scale-up of Wolbachia interventions.

Overview of the Role

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated and mission-driven individual with strong public health management experience and analytical skills to help support CHAI’s dengue control activities throughout Central America. This individual will play a pivotal role in helping governments in the region plan for introduction of new, highly impactful control tools to reduce the growing burden of dengue and other arboviruses, with a particular focus on interventions targeting the mosquito vector. The Regional Program Manager will help CHAI’s country teams across Central America assist governments with creating, funding, and executing impactful dengue control strategies, supporting and coordinating their efforts to provide operational and strategic support to national dengue programs.

The successful candidate will bring a generalist skillset to the team and does not necessarily need prior experience with dengue programs. The Regional Program Manager will join a diverse and technically strong team of entrepreneurial problem-solvers based across the region, and will have the opportunity to collaborate with government programs, stakeholders, and research institutions.

The Regional Program Manager must also be able to build and manage effective relationships, identify creative solutions to difficult problems, and have a deep personal commitment to achieving impact. The successful candidate will be hardworking and willing to personally take on any task, while also having demonstrated experience managing large, complex programs and directly managing small to medium size teams. CHAI places great value on the resourcefulness, tenacity, patience, humility, and high ethical standards of its staff.

The Regional Program Manager, Dengue will report to the Associate Director, Dengue, working very closely with the Country Program Managers, as required.

This position is based in Panama City, Panama.  This role requires travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.

The Regional Program Manager will be a strategic leader of CHAI´s growing dengue portfolio in Central America, helping our program derive an organizational vision for the work and organize activities across several countries, ensuring CHAI provides high-quality support to the Ministries of Health in the region. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Program Leadership:

• Act as a regional coordinator for CHAI’s growing dengue portfolio across several countries in Central America.
• Build and maintain a strong understanding of the dengue control landscape.
• Strengthen strategic partnerships with regional NGOs, academic institutions, and private sector entities to maximize expertise, resources, and networks in implementing novel interventions to control dengue.
• Identify and establish collaborations with new partners to diversify support for programmatic activities.
• Become thought partner and advisor on dengue control within the Ministry of Health and relevant government bodies.
• Intensify efforts as a liaison between CHAI and national authorities, advocating for sustained political commitment and resource allocation to dengue control.
• Engage in high-level discussions, negotiations, and advocacy activities to catalyze implementation of novel dengue interventions.
• Facilitating regular coordination with country teams, regional partners, and government stakeholders on ongoing country activities and priorities

Strategic Planning:

• Provide strategic guidance and expertise on policy development and dengue control planning in political agendas.
• Help country teams support government-led review and analysis of all available data on dengue incidence, entomology, and associated interventions to understand what’s working and what’s not
• Engage CHAI and external technical experts to inform selection of optimal tools and strategies for dengue control.
• Be a thought partner to support creation of national dengue strategies incorporating new approaches.
• Assist with identification of potential financing mechanisms to fund strategies.

Documentation and Sharing:

• Document experiences and share lessons learned across country teams
• Assist with writing of funding proposals and information synthesis for donor reporting.

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Entomology, Business Administration, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in program management and implementation, preferably in vector control or infectious diseases.
• Strong background in working with governmental health programs and demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships in a challenging environment.
• Exceptional problem-solving, organization and management skills, including time management and project management.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to create compelling presentations, briefs, and reports.
• Proven experience in translating analysis into action and supervising execution of activities to meet results.
• Demonstrated ability to learn technical subjects quickly and communicate complex issues clearly.
• Ability to work independently and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously.
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications.
• Strong capacity to work diplomatically with policy-makers and other partners.
• Ability to travel within the region 30% of the time.
• Fluency in Spanish and English.

Advantages

• Technical expertise in dengue transmission dynamics and interventions, including Wolbachia-based approaches.
• Experience working remotely with a decentralized team.
• Experience living and working in Central America.

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