National Linkage to Care Lead – KENPHIA II at The Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB)

Job Summary

The Linkage to Care (LTC) Lead will lead the clinical aspects of the Linkage to treatment and care activities for the survey. H/she will ensure quality assurance mechanisms are implemented within the spectrum of the clinical quality approach to Home based Testing and Counselling, linkage to care and return of actionable test results resulting from the survey.  The LTC lead will be responsible for conceptualizing and overseeing the design of an electronic real time system for the active LTC processes and ensuring that all identified Persons Living with HIV/AIDS as well as individuals with actionable results are linked to care within the stipulated timeframe as indicated in the KENPHIA II protocol. The LTC lead will be responsible for ensuring that referral coordinators and their facilities within Kenya are onboarded onto a national framework/system for active linkage to care for Individuals identified to be positive from the KENPHIA II survey.  The LTC lead will lead the training of all LTC officers and field team members to ensure that all LTC activities within the survey are implemented optimally This position reports to the Senior Technical Advisor and will work very closely with the Regional Survey Coordinators and Linkage to care officers.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead the design of, manuals, SOP’s and training materials for LTC as well as the design and monitoring of the  the referral system and laboratory results distribution to clients and facility
• Liaise with NASCOP/facility referral focal persons and other entities that will participate in Active Linkage to Care
• Responsible for identifying realistic strategies that can lead to an optimum LTC outcome for KENPHIA II and ensure linkage to care of all clinically actionable tests and survey quality monitoring.
• Ensure that the referral system is designed to integrate the realities of the Kenyan linkage and retention spectrum of care and work with Community Based Volunteers, facility referral focal persons, PEPFAR IPs and local health facilities to strengthen linkage to care
• Lead linkage to care meetings with NASCOP/facility referral persons of contact in which new cases are assigned to appropriate facilities, all unlinked cases are monitored and final outcomes documented.
• Ensure that adequate tracking protocols are developed, and results are returned within the protocol acceptable timelines to avoid any incidents of protocol deviations or violations as well as troubleshooting any issues preventing active linkage to care.
• In collaboration with KENPHIA II Data Management team and Lab Team, develop and modify key elements of participant- level LTC logs and ensure that they are routinely available and meet recommended data quality standards as well as generate and disseminate weekly LTC summary reports which include summary statistics of LTC eligibility, consents and outcomes status including design of dashboards that will monitor LTC activities real time.
• Routinely liaises with counselors/interviewers and Team supervisors/Leaders to troubleshoot issues with obtaining consent for LTC and data quality issues relating to LTC in the field
• Participate in weekly Active Linkage to Care and Treatment (ALCART) meetings from the KENPHIA II secretariat with NASCOP/facility referral persons of contact in which new ALCART cases are assigned
• Review the weekly ALCART summary reports which includes summary statistics of ALCART eligibility, consents and outcomes status.
• Work with field Teams to identify root causes for gaps identified from the weekly summary statistics
• Reviews the content of the incident reports before submission to the Ethics and Regulatory Lead
• Monitor the quality of reports and the timely submission of incident reports from field Team Leads
• Ensures feedback is given to teams on incident reports from Ethics and Regulatory Lead and remediation actions are taken
• Support logistical needs to all entities who perform ALCART as necessary, which may include transportation and reimbursement for transportation.
• Coordinate the routine collection of ALCART Status Forms from Linkage Officers of facilities and utilize the data therein to update case-level information in the ALCART log
• Ensures that district management teams assigned to the KENPHIA II LTC support sensitization and re-orientation activities to facility staff and community health workers in KENPHIA II referrals and ALCART procedures.
• Ensures that Referral Contacts/community Mobilization Committee have sensitized Health Facilities and NASCOP Management Teams about KENPHIA II Referrals and LTC procedures.

Qualifications/requirements:

• Master’s in Public Health, medical or clinical medicine course or epidemiology with at least 5 – 10 years’ demonstrated experience implementing large-scale complex HIV Care and Treatment programs with at least 3 in a senior level position.
• Knowledge of Kenya health sector and familiarity of Kenya linkage to care models as well as a strong understanding of HIV Linkages and strategies to optimize retention
• Demonstrated experience with a demonstrated knowledge of practical technical skills in HIV prevention, care and treatment necessary for strengthening service delivery at the national, county or community-level.
• Extensive experience working with PEPFAR Implementing Partners, CDC and MoH
• Strong work ethic, high level of dedication, ability to multitask and work with multidisciplinary teams with demonstrable written and verbal communication skills
• Implementation of household-based surveys or managing regional or national teams in a field/household survey setting an added advantage
• Knowledge or experience in social, behavioral change communication and implementation science an added advantage