Indonesia: Senior HIV/AIDS Surveillance Advisor

Global Health Fellows Program

Technical Advisor III: Senior HIV/AIDS Surveillance Advisor

United States Agency for International Development/Indonesia

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Assignment: Two year fellowship

GHFP-II-P5-211

The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP-II) is a five year cooperative agreement implemented and managed by the Public Health Institute in partnership with Global Health Corps, GlobeMed, Management Systems International and PYXERA Global. GHFP-II is supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

GHFP-II’s goal is to improve the effectiveness of USAID health programs by addressing the Agency’s immediate and emerging human capacity needs. The program seeks to accomplish this goal first through the recruitment, placement and support of diverse health professionals at the junior, mid and senior levels. These program participants include fellows, interns, corporate volunteers and Foreign Service National professionals. The program then provides substantial performance management and career development support to participants, including annual work planning assistance, and ensures that professional development opportunities are available.

Looking to the future, GHFP-II also seeks to establish a pool of highly-qualified global health professionals that will ensure the Agency’s ongoing technical leadership and effectiveness. This objective is supported by an extensive outreach program that brings global health opportunities and specialized career advice to a diverse range of interested individuals, with a particular focus on those underrepresented in the field of global health.

BACKGROUND:

Throughout most of Indonesia, HIV/AIDS remains a concentrated epidemic, with the highest prevalence among high-risk behavior groups of sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID) and transgender persons (TG) in medium and large cities and major ports in the world’s largest archipelago. The best available data demonstrate an estimated prevalence rate among Direct Female Sex Workers (DFSW) of 7.0%; 1.6% among Indirect Female Sex Workers (IDFSW); 21.9% among waria (TG); 8.5% among MSM; and 41.2% among PWID in 2013. The 2015 Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) indicates that the number of new infections will continue to grow, especially among MSM. It is estimated that the majority of new HIV infections will occur through unsafe sex, of which 29% will occur among MSM/TG and 32% among FSW.

The United States Government (USG) and USAID have played a longstanding role in the response to HIV/AIDS in Indonesia. Since 1993, USAID has provided assistance to Indonesia for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS response program. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) strategy in Indonesia supports the Government of Indonesia (GOI) in achieving its goals to prevent and reduce the transmission of HIV infection, improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, and reduce the socioeconomic impact of the AIDS epidemic on individuals, families and society. The current USAID-funded activities focus on expanding access to HIV services, reducing sexual transmission of HIV and harm reduction by accelerating condom availability and use among high risk groups (MSM, FSW, TG, PWID and other high-risk men), building the capacity of civil society organizations and government counterparts to provide appropriate prevention services, and providing technical assistance to support Ministry of Health (MOH) and National AIDS Commission (NAC) efforts to expand coverage and improve the quality of prevention and treatment services.

Limited availability of surveillance data and the variability in the quality of national program data present a major challenge to accurately assessing the gaps and needs of the national HIV program and its responses at the subnational levels. To address this, PEPFAR will provide direct technical assistance to the MOH to improve the accuracy, completeness, and usability of data for the national HIV program. The availability and use of high quality data is fundamental to PEPFAR’s ability to understand the nature of and responses to the HIV epidemic, including timely and accurate reporting of HIV and AIDS case surveillance and secular trends on the emerging epidemiological, behavioral, socio-demographic, and geographic changes of the HIV epidemic. The collection and dissemination of such data are directly aligned with PEPFAR’s goals toward epidemic control and to effectively measure impact by “delivering the right things, in the right places, right now, in the right way.” Strategic Information (SI) activities should directly support the monitoring and provision of data on a country’s burden of HIV disease and distribution not only at national and regional levels but also district and site levels.

INTRODUCTION:

The Senior HIV/AIDS Surveillance Advisor (Senior Advisor) will be based at the MOH offices in Jakarta, Indonesia and will provide technical guidance on strengthening the capacity of existing national HIV surveillance systems, the implementation of HIV integrated behavioral and biological surveys (IBBS) and size estimations among key populations, and increasing the technical capacity of MOH staff to adequately respond to the surveillance needs of the HIV epidemic in Indonesia at the national, provincial, and district levels.

The Senior Advisor will also provide ongoing technical assistance to the MOH to strengthen its capacity to effectively manage the national HIV strategy, to gather and analyze surveillance and survey data for decision-making and policy development for HIV/AIDS strategies at the national and sub-national levels, and to provide technical assistance and guidance to implementing partners, including the provincial and district level health offices. Technical support to the MOH may include; ongoing mentoring of surveillance and monitoring and evaluation staff; assisting with the design of standardized disease surveillance systems, in order to make evidence-based decisions; and strengthening the MOH’s capacity in monitoring and characterizing the HIV epidemic in Indonesia, including its determinants and impact, in order to guide policymakers and key stakeholders in the HIV response at various levels. S/he will contribute to the overall goal of improving the technical quality of national HIV surveillance systems and the capacity of MOH staff to effectively manage these systems.

The Senior Advisor will work closely with and receive technical oversight from the MOH Director of the Sub-Directorate for HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. At the USAID Mission, the Onsite Manager will be the Infectious Disease Team Lead. The Advisor will be placed at the MOH offices.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior HIV/AIDS Surveillance Advisor will be responsible for:

A. Providing technical advice to the MOH to increase its technical capacity on HIV surveillance (45%):

• Assessing the status of human resource capacity in HIV epidemiology and surveillance, and providing direct and ongoing mentoring to MOH staff with the goal of strengthening technical capacity of local surveillance staff.


• Training MOH staff on the analysis and use of data to accurately describe the national HIV epidemic and appropriately respond to secular trends.


• Enhancing the MOH staff capacity on the use of surveillance data to develop policies and projections that guide their decision-making.


• Developing MOH staff capacity in data management, analysis and interpretation, effective reporting of surveillance findings, communication strategies and skills that better engage and influence policy-makers and promote evidence-based policies, resource allocation and programming decisions.


• Keeping up-to-date with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organization (WHO), and PEPFAR monitoring and reporting requirements and global standards and norms for HIV/AIDS surveillance in both generalized and concentrated epidemics, ensuring MOH and its staff are kept abreast of global surveillance best practices.


• Developing surveys and surveillance training modules, guidelines and standards for MOH staff to facilitate the transfer of technical skills to local staff at national, provincial, and district levels.


• Providing technical guidance to and collaborating with MOH staff in preparation of scientific publications and technical reports.


• Providing technical assistance in developing STI surveillance.

B. Providing technical direction for the development and improvement of MOH HIV surveillance systems (35%):

• Supporting MOH staff in the development and implementation of data management and analysis tools and surveillance systems to strengthen the capacity of the MOH in monitoring the national HIV response.


• Providing technical direction in the development of national surveillance guidelines and protocols, including HIV case reporting, integrated behavioral and biological surveys among key populations, HIV drug resistance surveillance, HIV incidence surveillance, and sentinel surveillance.


• Providing technical assistance to provincial and district health office staff on the management and implementation of HIV surveillance systems and surveys.


• Advising MOH on the design and implementation of epidemiological and program data, including appropriate data collection methods to guide the refinement of the national HIV program.


• Providing technical assistance to the MOH for strategic information, including size estimations of the epidemic in key and at-risk populations, and disease modeling.


• Conducting epidemiological reviews and analyses of survey and surveillance data, including the triangulation with national program data (when appropriate) to monitor challenges and gaps in achieving epidemic control.


• Designing methods and providing recommendations to integrate HIV surveillance and/or monitoring with other disease reporting systems, if appropriate.


• Monitoring the effectiveness of various approaches and interventions to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic (prevention of sexual transmission, treatment, harm reduction, etc.) to influence effective resource allocation.


• Developing systems and tools that would facilitate timely and high quality surveillance reports for GOI and donors, with the goal of transparency and strategic allocation of resources.


• Preparing technical and program assistance documentation for actions related to Global Fund (GF) technical assistance.

C. Liaising with the Office of Global AIDS Coordinator and other USAID-funded resources (13%):

• Communicating and coordinating with the GF Liaison to ensure national surveillance data is utilized in the development and oversight of GF-funded activities, including participation on technical working groups.


• Serving as point of contact and subject-matter expert for USAID on surveillance data, epidemiological studies and modeling.


• Providing support in the strategic planning and development of PEPFAR’s Country Operational Plan.

International and domestic travel approximately 15%.

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (7%)

• Keeping abreast of literature and latest developments in the fields of survey and surveillance guidelines for HIV, epidemiological literature, and mathematical modeling literature and analyses relevant to HIV/AIDS epidemiology, especially in concentrated epidemics.


• Deepening knowledge of HIV/AIDS disease surveillance approaches.


• Participating in interagency and intra-agency working groups as appropriate to the scope of work.


• Participating in professional continuing education and skills training within the purview of GHFP-II.

REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree or higher in public health, biostatistics, demography, behavioral science or a related social science field (PhD or Dr PH desirable).


• Minimum ten (10) years’ experience in public health programming, with at least three (3-5) years’ experience in an international or resource-challenged setting.


• Knowledge of HIV epidemiological principles, methods, and theories.


• Ability to provide leadership and make decisions regarding HIV/AIDS disease surveillance approaches and HIV/AIDS standards and norms. Experience with key populations and concentrated epidemics highly desired.


• Demonstrated experience with country-level disease modeling for the HIV epidemic and population size estimations especially in the Asia region.


• Demonstrated basic knowledge of simulation modeling and applications of mathematical models in HIV/AIDS, especially in concentrated epidemics.


• Ability to apply policy directives to surveillance systems design, implementation, monitoring, and analysis.


• Demonstrated comprehensive understanding of public health prevention and community-based health care initiatives, including program design, implementation and evaluation in HIV/AIDS.


• Strong working competency in computer applications to develop databases and carry out statistical analysis.


• Familiarity with GIS software.


• Ability to analyze problems and situations and plan, design and carry out project studies and to conceptualize, develop and implement new strategies and initiatives.


• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation and teambuilding skills and experience.


• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain collaborative relationships with senior government officials, international organizations, multilateral and bilateral agencies, implementing partner chiefs of mission, and the local partner community.


• Excellent English language written and oral communication skills.


• Fluency in the Bahasa Indonesia language preferred.


• Ability to travel internationally.


• US citizenship or US permanent residency required.

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

Salary based on commensurate experience and earnings history. The Public Health Institute offers a comprehensive benefits package including professional development programs.