The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

About CHAI’s Global HIV Access Program (HAP)

Since 2002, CHAI has been a leader in expanding and accelerating access to HIV treatment, reducing the cost of drugs and diagnostic tests, and strengthening the capacity of governments to help prevent and diagnose HIV and treat people living with HIV (PLHIV). CHAI’s simultaneous engagement on the supply and demand sides of the market, our end-to-end and holistic support to national HIV programs, and our partnership with affected communities is helping to address barriers that prevent people living in LMICs from accessing the best available treatment and prevention services.

Advanced HIV Disease (AHD) Overview

Despite significant progress in scaling access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLHIV), HIV-related mortality remains unacceptably high, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating up to seven million HIV-related deaths over the next decade. Forty percent of these could be prevented by addressing advanced HIV disease (AHD). AHD remains a persistent global challenge for both newly initiating and ART-experienced patients re-entering care, and the recent UNAIDS 2022 report documents that HIV-related deaths in 2021 remained tragically high at 650,000, with tuberculosis and cryptococcal meningitis as the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. If current trends continue, 460,000 people will die of HIV-related mortality in 2025, significantly missing the 250,000 target. In an era where rapid screening tools and effective therapies for preventing and treating AHD and associated opportunistic infections (OIs) are finally available, these deaths, and the current rate of reduction, is unacceptable.

CHAI’s vision for AHD is shaped by our commitment to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through a strong partnership with and investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), we believe a future is possible where AHD is an urgent priority for ministries of health (MOH), who own and execute strategies that optimize access to care and minimize preventable deaths from AHD and associated OIs. AHD services are decentralized to the primary care level so that PLHIV have equitable access to life-saving diagnostic tools and medicines at the point of care, whether through rapid onsite testing and treatment initiation or reliable and efficient referral networks. MOH, donors, and implementing partners work together to respond to AHD in an efficient, evidence-driven way that promotes equity, involves the community, is client-centered, and recognizes the importance of prioritizing AHD. The AHD market is stable, with multi-year country demand forecasts and commodity security, and supplies are delivered within timely and acceptable lead times.

AHD Southern Africa Regional Manager Position Overview

The Southern Africa Regional Manager will play a critical role in providing technical assistance to MOHs across South Africa, Lesotho, and wider countries in the region, specifically in supporting the introduction and scale-up of commodities to screen, diagnose, and treat patients with AHD and associated OIs. This will include participation and support to AHD technical working groups across countries, and engagement with critical MOH stakeholders through participation in multi-country learning networks dedicated to expanding and improving differentiated service delivery (DSD) for PLHIV.

The Manager will need to cultivate and manage relationships with national stakeholders and provide technical assistance to support access to AHD commodities across each country. We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding leadership and project management skills. The candidate must be able to drive the development and implementation of this program in the region with significant autonomy, have a deep personal commitment to producing high-quality results, and have the ability to lead in a challenging and multicultural professional environment.

Coordinate national AHD stakeholders, strategy, and implementation:

• Serve as the key support on AHD for CHAI country teams, as well as Ministries of Health, and in-country and global partners to drive the expansion of access to AHD commodities and adoption of new AHD products into existing country treatment and screening networks.
• Support country teams to provide the most up to date guidance, market intelligence, and strategic input to the MOHs on AHD.
• Support national AHD stakeholder engagements through participation in and support as required to the AHD Technical Working Groups, with a particular focus on translating regional and global learnings and best practices into operational and technical guidance to accelerate the uptake of impactful diagnostic technologies and treatments.
• Support MOH to coordinate across and align AHD partners in program countries to the national AHD strategy and implementation plan.
• Support MOH either virtually or in person with accelerated AHD product introduction, including guideline review meetings, and new product introduction planning.
• Participate in national quantification sessions, providing technical support during funding cycles to ensure AHD commodities are supported and demand for AHD commodities is accurately forecasted.
• Review countries’ AHD implementation plans and support the MOH to optimize treatment at selected hubs that decentralized screening facilities can refer patients to.
• Support and participate in country-to-country learning and exchange visits on AHD.
• Regularly engage in activities related to learning networks to support knowledge raising, sharing of best practices, and capacitation of MOHs.

Increase demand for key AHD commodities through expanding sustainable access:

• Review and support the optimization of AHD guidelines across countries, sharing best practices and recent WHO recommendations and working closely with MOH to adopt these for the local setting.
• Increase awareness of AHD commodities among key decision makers and implementers, and support MOHs to ensure full access to the AHD package of care in their respective countries.
• Support CD4 strategy review across countries as required, including assessing the impact of a VISITECT® CD4 Advanced Disease test and its place in countries’ AHD package of care.
• Share through the latest market intelligence, to ensure country orders are aligned with procurement cycles that will help maximize the shelf life of commodities in the country.
• Share and communicate with countries information about new products to support product introduction.
• Develop solutions to challenges surrounding AHD commodities access in the region, and support programs to identify interventions to overcome these.
• Support the review of countries’ supply chain data to support regional supply chain management and avoid stockouts.
• [As required] Support MOHs to develop the investment case to advocate for the prioritization of AHD commodities in donor global and country budgets. Securing commitment from procurement partners will be critical to ensuring sustainable access to AHD commodities and growing demand.
• Monitor country progress against program access deliverables through regular reviews.
• Timeously identify risks to access, propose risk mitigation strategies/solutions, and support their execution alongside the MOHs.

Coordinate demand for AHD commodities and services:

• Share data and access information from counties with the CHAI team, to inform market interventions and share with partners such as the AHD Implementation Steering Committee (ISC) and ARV Procurement Working Group (APWG) to support cross-partner collaboration and service delivery efficiencies at the global level.
• Gather data from across countries on AHD supply chain challenges to determine timelines, anticipate delays, and course correct as needed based on revised demand.

Team and stakeholder engagement:

• Establish and maintain relationships with MOHs, CHAI country teams and partners, and between the global and country teams.
• Act as the CHAI AHD focal person for countries and provide updates on country activities and access updates during scheduled internal, donor, and partner engagements.
• Meet routinely with MOHs to review, plan, and identify areas for support.
• Establish and cultivate key external AHD stakeholder relationships.
• Coordinate with other internal teams to identify, cultivate, and leverage synergies in strategy and workstreams.

Knowledge sharing:

• Maintain up-to-date expertise across the HIV, and specifically the AHD, space, including the latest trends, and research developments and support identification, translation, and utilization of relevant global and regional updates for country teams.
• Present analyses, cross-country insights, and program lessons to external audiences.

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum five years of relevant work experience (e.g., technical assistance, management consulting, data analysis, project management
• Willingness to travel ~50% of time
• Knowledge and experience in HIV or global health
• Ability to manage projects independently, set realistic priorities, and plan for the successful implementation of activities
• Demonstrated experience structuring and building quantitative and qualitative analyses, and communicating results to a variety of audiences
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and ability to build strong professional relationships with a range of stakeholders in a multicultural and virtual environment

Advantages

• CHAI country program or global team experience
• Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH), Business Administration (MBA), or another graduate degree
• Previous experience working in sub-Saharan Africa
• Experience in engaging with government officials and multilateral organizations in developing countries
• Experience and knowledge of supply chain and forecasting and quantification process

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