Chemonics International seeks experienced professionals for the USAID-funded Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project. GHSC-PSM Ethiopia will serve as the primary vehicle through which USAID will procure and furnish health commodities, provide technical assistance to improve the country’s management of the supply chain, and collaborate with key international stakeholders to support global and local health initiatives.

The project is currently seeking qualified short-term pharmacovigilance data management specialist for TB and HIV medicines, and COVID-19 vaccine to be based at Ethiopia Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) head office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The specialist will be responsible for data management of pharmacovigilance activities including data entry, aggregation, and analysis of adverse drug events (ADEs) of TB and HIV medicines and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) of COVID-19 vaccines. S/he shall enter data into national and international relevant data bases as required. In addition, the specialist will make follow-ups and communications to the relevant facility or bureau to access pharmacovigilance data. The specialist will produce regular reports and analysis on ADEs, AEFIs and other pharmacovigilance activities for decision making. Please see the criteria below for details:

SCOPE OF WORK

Short-term pharmacovigilance data management specialist for TB and HIV medicines and COVID-19 vaccine

The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) Project in Ethiopia

 Background

The purpose of the Global Health Supply Chain– Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) Program is to ensure uninterrupted supplies of health commodities in support of United States Government (USG)-funded public health initiatives around the world. The project provides direct procurement and supply chain management support to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and Population and Reproductive Health. In supporting USG-funded global health activities, GHSC-PSM will develop and manage a wide array of services for health commodity procurement and related systems strengthening technical assistance encompassing different elements of a comprehensive supply chain.

At the country level, GHSC-PSM supports country strategies and priorities that fall under the following three project objectives:

• Global Commodity Procurement and Logistics
• Systems Strengthening Technical Assistance
• Global and local collaboration to improve availability of health commodities
• Purpose:

The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) has been leading efforts to strengthen the national pharmacovigilance system in the health care system. The Authority has played significant role in strengthening the health system capacity to detect, report, investigate, and take corrective actions on ADEs. It has been engaged in building the capacity of health care professionals, availing various ADE reporting platforms including printing and distribution of manual ADE reporting formats, providing feedbacks to reporting health facilities and professionals, conducting face to face discussions with health professionals, producing medicine safety alerts, educating the public and similar endeavors. Likewise, the project has been collaborating with EFDA in national pharmacovigilance efforts with particular emphasis on HIV and TB medicines and COVID19 vaccines. As part of this collaboration, the project seeks to recruit a data management specialist who will be involved in entry of pharmacovigilance data such as adverse drug event (ADEs) for TB and HIV medicines and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) for COVID19 vaccines on the established database. Besides data entry, the specialist will be responsible for aggregations and analysis of the reported ADEs and AEFIs. S/he shall enter data into national and international relevant data bases as required. In addition, the specialist will make follow-ups and communications to the relevant facility or bureau to access data. The specialist will produce regular reports and analysis on ADEs, AEFIs and other pharmacovigilance activities for decision making.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Sort and prepare pharmacovigilance reports such as adverse drug event (ADEs) of TB and HIV medicines and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) of COVID19 vaccines for data entry
• Check for completeness and entry of ADE and AEFI data into the authority’s database by ensuring accuracy of the data entered
• Resolve discrepancies in information and obtain further information for incomplete reports
• Make communications to data source facilities to collect data as required
• Create data backups as part of a contingency plan
• Make aggregation and analysis of the entered data as per the requirements of EFDA
• Respond to information requests from authorized people and provide weekly and monthly reports as required
• Support in documentation and filing of the pharmacovigilance reports
• Ensure confidentiality of data at all times and sign confidentiality agreement required by EFDA
• Create necessary databases/templates for sustainable data management of ADE and AEFI reports
• Report regularly tor on progress/results achieved in work plans, and resolve any challenges faced.
• Compile regular reports to present progress achieved in the pharmacovigilance data management activities.
• Maintain a good knowledge and understanding of all office rules and procedures as set forth in the project policy manual.
• Exhibit Chemonics values and build culture of “Living our Values” within the team
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as needed in line with pharmacovigilance data management activities.

Level of Effort and Location

• This short-term position will work five days a week. S/he will be based at Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with intermittent travels to the regions

Supervision/Reporting:

• The Short-term pharmacovigilance data management specialist will report to the Learning and Innovation Manager of GHSC-PSM and will be accountable to Product Safety Directorate Director of EFDA.  He/she will closely work with the clinical pharmacy advisor of GHSC-PSM.

Duration of assignment

• July 19 to September 24, 2021

Number of Positions

• One position

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, pharmaceutical regulations, supply chain or related fields; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of three (3) years of relevant experience in pharmacy, public health supply chain information system strengthening or related fields; experience in pharmacovigilance preferred
• Prior data entry experience
• Experience working on USAID-funded projects.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills
• Fluency in English
• Able to work under strict deadlines and deliver deliverables
• Computer skills in Microsoft Office suite applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and data base software.
• Attention to detail