Data Manager

Job Description

Following the Ebola outbreak of 2014, with its resultant toll on health and the economy amongst, the Liberian Health Sector developed the “Investment plan for building a Resilient Health System for Liberia” as a means of addressing gaps within the health sector as well as strengthening epidemic preparedness, surveillance and response. A component of the plan emphasized the expansion of the established surveillance, early warning, and response system to ensure prompt case detection and response to future public health events.

The Ministry of Health, National Public Health Institute of Liberia, and partners having reviewed numerous literature and examples, settled for the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (eIDSR) as the electronic platform for instant notification of priority health conditions. With support primarily from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the system was developed and piloted in two counties in Liberia. An evaluation of the pilot funded by WHO was very positive and rated the system highly for sustainability, cost, ease of use, adaptability, average time (2 minutes) it took to send out a notification, maintenance, etc.

This eIDSR utilized the existing mHero (two-way messaging system) processes combined with a custom offline application that synchronized with DHIS2 Tracker to provide alerts from the facility to the district, county, and central levels, and also provided a mechanism for creating a line list at the district level that is available in near real-time at the county and central levels. It leveraged the existing DHIS2 software that is currently being used for health management information systems (HMIS). In addition, the SMS component leverages the existing mHero platform that uses RapidPro, drawing health worker contact information through the Health Worker Registry from iHRIS, the Human Resource Information System (HRIS), and facility information from DHIS2, which plays the role of a health facility registry.

With funding from partners, the Ministry of Health, National Public Health Institute of Liberia, and Ministry of Agriculture are opting to expand on the above-mentioned system, to integrate other sub-systems, including the Community Event-based Surveillance System and Animal Health Surveillance based on the “One Health” Concept.

The technological innovation for CEBS specifically involves data collection, reporting, and overall data management between the community (by Community Health Assistants (CHAs) and Community Health Volunteers (CHVs)) and the health facility (by Community Health System Supervisor (CHSS) and/or Health Facility Surveillance Focal Person (HFSFP)) that capitalizes on mobile device technology such as phones as the medium, improving the timeliness and effectiveness of the reports when triggers are identified by the CHAs and CHVs in the community.

Similarly, Animal Health Surveillance involves data collection from the community level with the Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) through the County Animal Health Workers (Surveillance officers Quarantine, Livestock, etc.) to the national level (Central Veterinary Epidemiology unit and Central Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory). For verification of alerts, county animal health officers move on the site to complete the investigation.

The expanded eIDSR is expected to improve epidemiological surveillance, including alert triggers and case/event reporting and data management at all levels of the health system, through the use of appropriate technology for data collection and analysis.

Specific Objective:

- Employ enhanced technology to receive, analyze and display real-time data through visualizations; - Facilitate monitoring of disease trends over time and determining potential outbreaks in real-time, to guide at national and sub-national levels; - Ensure accuracy and reliability of surveillance data to enhance timely response to outbreaks at sub-national levels - Ensure the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the operations of disease and event surveillance information systems, linking cases (humans and animals) to laboratory results

The expanded eIDSR system is expected to perform the below-listed tasks:

Specific Task:

- Liaise with the eIDSR TWG and developers to facilitate interoperability with sub-systems (CEBS, Animal Health Surveillance, etc.), including synchronizing data caption from communities and health facilities and investigators to a centralized database - Correlate data from various management levels via a simplified workflow - Link critical information (Contacts, Case investigation, specimen collection, lab results, Treatment, etc.) in a timely fashion using online/offline data capture and transfers - Training of all user points - Routine System Maintenance

Deliverables:

Level One - Technical Support:

- Identify and resolve technical issues - Escalate to the developers, critical issues above the data manager credentials and level for resolution - Development service level agreement with developers on the timeline for resolution of system issues and platform maintenance; - Identify and analyze complex technical issues and make recommendations for continual improvement - Implement data recovery procedures and safety protocol

Level Two - Application Support:

- Develop training materials for data entry various levels of the surveillance system (County, District, Health Facility, and community levels) - Serve as eIDSR Focal Person for HIS Sub-system-related activities. - Assist subordinates and team members to enhance technical knowledge in eIDSR system management. - Liaise with the developers to perform Security Monitoring to identify possible security risks - Ensure revision and provide regular updates on the National Weekly Early Warning Bulletin and monthly and quarterly dashboards; - Ensure the preparation and publication of dashboards on the status of disease prevention and control in Liberia in close collaboration with all partners - Liaise with ICT to ensure that AWS account remains active - Ensure generation, monitoring, and sharing of information on public health surveillance through relevant advocacy forum/platform and materials on surveillance in close collaboration with all partners; - Work with the other technician from other sectors to develop user management SOPs and manage all eIDSR users access and control - Set and manage a bi-annual meeting with partners and other stakeholders to provide reports/updates on the performance of the system.

Qualifications

- At least 5 years of relevant experience in Liberia health information and surveillance system - Proven leadership and technical experience, including initiating innovative solutions for optimal performance of the platform - Adept at using data processing platform - Adept at queries, writing reports, and making presentations - Must possess a systemic and logical approach to data problem-solving - Accuracy and attention to details - Strong knowledge of Liberia’s Health and Surveillance System - Demonstrated strong understanding of IDSR and eIDSR system - Excellent organizational skills; - Excellent English writing and design skills; - Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure; - Participate effectively in the team-based information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others; - Strong interpersonal skills, able to communicate and work with diverse people - Basic networking and troubleshooting skills

Reporting:

The eIDSR Data manager will report to the Director, Division of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at NPHIL.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way -

Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and

Equality. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on

Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace

Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

All IRC personnel must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards

for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In

accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary

Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment,

Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.