John Snow, Inc. (JSI) seeks highly qualified and accomplished public health leaders and providers for the recently awarded United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/PEPFAR-funded Supporting an AIDS-Free Era (SAFE) Project in Zambia. The five-year project which will be led by JSI in partnership with Abt Associates, mothers2mothers, and the Catholic Medical Mission Board, will work to reduce HIV mortality, morbidity and transmission, while improving nutrition outcomes and family planning integration in three provinces: Central, Copperbelt, and North-Western. USAID/PEPFAR SAFE will work with the GRZ, private sector and civil society institutions at the national, provincial, and district level to increase access to ART for HIV positive adults and children, reduce the incidence of new infections, improve Nutritional Assessment, Counseling and Services (NACS) and family planning services, and increase the capacity of local health institutions to better serve affected populations.

Position Title: Professional Counsellor (x30)
Position Type: Consultancy
Duration: Six (06) months
Location: Selected SAFE Supported Health Facilities in Central, Copperbelt and North – Western Provinces.

Summary:

Since the late 1980s when Zambia was hit by the HIV epidemic, numerous factors have influenced the quality of HIV-testing services, the feasibility and acceptability of new HIV-testing approaches, and the access to HTS for various community groups. As a result of the scale up of the HIV/AIDS response in Zambia, a drastic reduction of the prevalence rate from 28% around 1980s to 12.9% in 2015 among the adults aged 15 – 49 years has been achieved. Despite the alluded drastic reduction of the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS, Zambia still has 30% plus people living with HIV in communities that are not aware of their sero-status. According to Zambia Consolidated Guidelines 2018 for Prevention and Treatment of HIV Treatment, embarking on universal routine HTS has been highly recommended as entry point into the treatment cascade of the GRZ through MOH. Above all, adoption of critical strategies such as Indexing and Partner Notification Services (PNS) to complement conventional HIV Testing. The HIV High Volume Health Facility Counsellor will ensure that all SAFE supported Volunteers are daily supervised to test people with HIV, link all to ART, indexing sexual partners/those exposed (babies, adolescent boys and girls, men and women) and conduct PNS to all sexual partners/those exposed. Further, Health Care Facility Psycho – Social Counsellor shall ensure that every volunteer involved in HTS in all HIV High Volume SAFE supported Health Facility is trained in the High yielding strategies and is implementing them with intensive supportive supervision. The incumbent will report directly to the SAFE Provincial HTS Coordinator.

Deliverables:

§  Provide daily intensive hands onsite technical supportive supervision to all SAFE supported volunteers involved in HTS to ensure that they are implementing high yielding strategies (i.e. indexing and PNS);

§  Ensure that all SAFE supported volunteers in SAFE Health Facilities who are involved in HTS are well trained in High HTS impact interventions;

§  Enforce the rules of confidentiality in all HTS;

§  Ensure that all clients who are tested HIV positive by volunteers in SAFE supported Health Facilities and communities during PNS and targeted mobile community based HTS are linked into ART programmes;

§  Facilitate testing for children among mothers whose babies and children have been exposed to HIV and ensure that all children who test HIV positive are put on treatment;

§  In collaboration with DECs and volunteers, create Viral Load (VL) Analysis demand among all ART clients that are due;

§  Submitting daily High priority HTS impact interventions report to the Regional Clinical Care Director through the Provincial HTS Coordinator;

§  Ensure that HTS SOPs are available and strictly adhered to by all Health Facilities staff and volunteers;

§  Ensure integration of HTS into other health services including FP, MCH, TB, OPD, Inpatients Departments, other specialized clinics such as Eye, blood banks;

Desirable Competencies:

§  Bachelor’s Degree/Diploma in Eclectic Counselling, HIV/AIDS Management, Psycho – Social Counselling, Social Sciences, Health, BSc Sociology & Gender Studies, or equivalent will be added advantage;

§  Psycho – Social Counselling Certificate from the Institutions the Zambia Counselling Council (ZCC) and fully registered with current practicing license and not less than 2-year work experience, knowledge and Skill on HIV Testing Services (HTS) indexing and PNS inclusive;

§  Trainers Certificate in HIV/AIDS Counselling

§  Experience in providing intensive HTS supportive supervision;

§  Ability to facilitate learning among volunteers involved in HTS and other HIV prevention services;

§  Good oral and documentation communication skills;

§  Computer literate especially in word, excel and Power point and internet; and

§  People centered change agent and unifying player in teams.

Mode of Application:

Send an application via email to saferecruitment@jsi.com.  In the subject line please indicate the position you are applying for; only those applications that reference the position in the subject line will be reviewed. Your application should consist of a cover letter and CV with three references and full addresses and contact information.

Closing Date: Friday, 8 March, 2019

Please note that you do not need to apply if you don’t meet the minimum requirements. Only candidates meeting the minimum requirements will be contacted. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks after the closing date, kindly assume that your application was not successful.

John Snow, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer committed to workplace diversity. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual preference, genetic information, political affiliation, or military status (special disabled veterans or veteran status) in any employment decisions. M/F/V/D