Infection Prevention and Control and WASH Managers (3)

Job Description

(Only the applicants who have applied via the IRC Website on the application link below and shortlisted for interview will be contacted). Background: The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, provides relief, rehabilitation, and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of natural disaster, oppression, and violent conflict in 42 countries. The IRC has worked in Sierra Leone since 1999 and currently programs across three core sectors: 1) Health 2) Women and Girls’ Protection and Empowerment (WGPE), and 3) Education. The IRC is committed to supporting the Government of Sierra Leone in the strengthening of the country and has offices in Bo, Kailahun, Kenema, and Kono, with national geographic reach through partners. We seek to build upon our programming experience and introduce new programs that are adaptive, collaborative and evidence-driven, leading to a more educated, safe, healthy, and empowered Sierra Leone. Infection prevention and control (IPC) is an essential component of healthcare quality and patient safety. In its operational districts, the IRC plans to support district hospitals and primary health care units (PHUs) in Sierra Leone to improve their IPC and WASH practices with the goal to reduce mortality and morbidity due to hospital (or healthcare) associated infections (HAIs). Rigorous infection control systems need to be in place to reduce transmission of infections among health workers and patients. More effort will be focused on improving maternal and child health outcomes (such as proportional morbidity and mortality) hence IPC efforts will be focused on maternal and child health services. It is expected that these efforts will be integrated in routine activities within the supported PHUs and that this will contribute to reductions in occurrence of hospital-acquired postpartum infections and associated mortality among mothers and their newborn babies. To achieve this, the IRC plans to recruit three IPC Managers to lead implementation of IPC and WASH interventions in one district (Bo), and any other facilities as maybe determined during future planning. The IPC Managers will provide day-to-day support to PHUs to foster improvements in their IPC and WASH practices while ensuring integration within routine service delivery. Scope of work Reporting to the Infection Prevention and Control Specialist, the IPC Managers will work in collaboration with district, health facility and community level stakeholders to improve IPC and WASH practices and structures within supported health facilities in Bo district, providing training and mentorship for healthcare workers and generating learning and best practices to inform national level strategies and policies. The key responsibilities are summarized as follows: Participate in the district level discussions on IPC and WASH as well as contribute to review of standard operating procedures and training manuals for IPC, as needed. Disseminate all relevant IPC tools and SOPs to supported health facilities. Coordinate with health facility IPC focal persons, community level platforms, facility management, patient safety committees as well as quality improvement committees to ensure clear understanding, and implementation of, IPC and WASH procedures in the clinical context. Participate in quarterly assessments on status of IPC implementation in assigned PHUs and use findings to identify gaps and develop quality improvement plans accordingly. As needed, lead implementation of IPC and WASH activities in PHUs and at community level ensuring that activities are implemented according to plan and are sustainable. Based on gaps identified through the baseline assessment, conduct on-site trainings in assigned PHUs on IPC and WASH, in collaboration with district teams. Participate in supportive supervision visits from national and district level by IRC and MOHS. Support documentation and management of IPC data in assigned PHUs. This will include investigations of all incidences of health worker and/or patient infections and report on incidents to the hospital IPC committee and patient safety committee. Support PHUs to identify causes of infections and facilitate them to prioritize and develop appropriate quality improvement plans. Prepare and submit monthly and/or quarterly progress reports, and other reports as may be requested. Ensure implementation of activities is according to available resources. Share programmatic results, best practices and lessons learnt during dissemination and learning meetings at district or national level. Any other activities as may be assigned by supervisor.

Qualifications

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in nursing or midwifery, environmental health, or related field. Additional training in public health is desirable. Additional training in IPC and WASH is desirable. Over 5 years of demonstrated experience in implementing IPC and WASH practices and systems improvement, ideally in low resource settings. Extensive experience in training and mentoring health providers on IPC in Sierra Leone. Strong technical leadership, management, planning, analytical and coordination skills. Willingness and ability to work in communities and PHUs in remote areas. Ability to work with limited supervision. Ability to travel to remote locations. WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. 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. IRC is equal opportunity employer, considered all the candidates based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran, or disability.