Millennium Villages Project, (MVP) Vacancies 2012

The Millennium Villages Project, (MVP) is a joint initiative of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the UNDP, Millennium Promise (a private philanthropy) and the governments of African countries, including Ghana. The MVP adopts an integrated approach to help populations in severely deprived villages to break the cycle of extreme poverty and realize the Millennium Development Goals. Sectors within which the MVP intervenes include agriculture, infrastructure, environments, health, education and business development among others. In Ghana, the MVP operates in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region, and works with a cluster of 30 contiguous villages with an estimated total population of 30,000 people

Regional eHealth Specialist

Job Description

 

Regional Support for eHealth:
Implementation and Maintenance of Millennium Villages Global Network,  Analytic Tools and mHealth Applications including ChildCount+ and OpenMRS

Regional eHealth Specialist Terms of Reference:
Millennium Villages Global-Network (MVG-Net) is an Open Source information and communication system and eHealth infrastructure initially designed to support the Millennium Village Project (MVP). Its overall aim is to enhance the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals through implementation and support for eHealth infrastructure that integrates facility-based and community health worker health information systems. MVG-Net links several levels of health-related activity. It supports the immediate provision of healthcare at clinic and outreach level, largely through improved medical record keeping. It simplifies the production of reports by clinics for local decision-making and government health departments and improves the quality, timeliness and therefore usefulness of those reports. At the international level, MVG-Net serves as an important front line in the detection and response to emerging infectious disease in Sub-Saharan Africa and it will have the capacity to serve other regions of the world and other initiatives equally well. Within MVP, it helps to organize, assess and monitor the communities’ progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in conjunction with the MVP’s support and research organizations.

In order to help implement and maintain the MVG-Net, expand the network through the implementation of ChildCount+, and ensure proper flow of data for M&E and research, MVP will engage a Regional eHealth Specialist ReHS. The ReHS will be based in the MDG Centre (East and Southern Africa or West and Central Africa) and will be
 managed by the Regional Health Coordinator along with the MDG Centre Director; the ReHS will work with the Regional M&E Coordinator to ensure that data is reliable, timely and of high quality. The ReHS will receive technical oversight from the Implementation Field Coordinator and the Technical Field Coordinator working under the eHealth Project Manager (Bennett Nemser) and the Director of Health Informatics (Andrew Kanter) to perform MVG-Net activities
 across all MVP clusters in his/her region. The ReHS will help ensure that implementation issues, requirements for development and tools will be communicated to the eHealth Development Team lead by Matt Berg.

The ReHS will work out of the MDG Centre, but may also travel to the various MVP site as required. He will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Familiarizing him/herself with the various eHealth and the community health worker program established in each MVP cluster in his region.
• Establishing and maintaining close working relations with local and national Ministry of Health structures responsible for health informatics.
• Managing operational aspects of site visits by the MVG-Net Field Coordinator and other MVG-Net staff.
• Working with the eHealth Specialists in the region to collaboratively implement the MGV-Net system in the cluster by:

1. Supporting the implementation of the OpenMRS EMR.
2. Integrating the OpenMRS EMR with other applications such as ChildCount+ as appropriate to aggregate and integrate data within the cluster.
3. Overseeing the training and operation of data entry personnel using MVG-Net applications through the various cluster eHealth teams.
4. Assisting cluster eHealth teams in promptly resolving all technical problems to ensure that the electronic medical record system is operational in all regional clusters at all times.
5. Facilitating use of the Terminology Service Bureau to assist in translation of terms and concepts for local/regional use.
6. Supporting the design and implementation of CHW and encounter-based forms and monthly reports via the cluster eHealth Specialists and Health Coordinators.
7. Designing and implementing training modules for data entry and/or clinical staff in the region.

• Training eHealth Specialists in the implementation and operation of OpenMRS and mHealth systems.
• Communicating regularly with the MVP eHealth Team in New York, providing updates on the status and needs of the MVG-Net system in the each cluster.
• Communicating regularly with the implementation and technical field coordinators: Casey Iiams-Hauser and Rob Borland.
• Working with cluster and MVP eHealth Team to support the flow of M&E data and research projects within the region.
• Attending MVG-Net and OpenMRS trainings and conferences as appropriate.
• Traveling to MVP sites as required for training, support and implementation activities.  Wherever possible costs of travel to MVP sites will be provided in advance.  Local travel and accommodation costs will be settled personally and reimbursed afterwards on presentation of receipts.

Expected Deliverables:

• Initial Status Report/Needs Assessment
• Reports for each cluster implementation visit.
• Training documentation.
• Implementation documentation.
• Annual Report

Terms and salary + conditions of service will be discussed with short listed candidates.

 

 

How To Apply

 

Please send your applications before Tuesday January 14th, 2012 to the following mail addresses:

1. [email protected]
2. [email protected]
3. [email protected]
4. [email protected]
5. [email protected]