Project Description

Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC), a global project funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS), that provides strategic technical assistance and direct service delivery to achieve HIV epidemic control among all at-risk populations; strengthen global health security (GHS), including outbreak response; expand tuberculosis detection and treatment (TB), improve maternal and child health (MCH), address malaria; and promote health systems strengthening (HSS) including supply chain management.

The EpiC Cameroon buy-in will support the continuation and expansion of life-saving HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services in Cameroon, building upon the foundational work of previous PEPFAR-funded initiatives. The focus will be on strengthening community-led platforms and integrating them with facility-based systems to increase access to quality HIV-related services, particularly for populations at higher risk of HIV, long distant truck drivers (LDTD), Children and Adolescents Living with HIV (C/ALHIV), HIV-exposed infants (HEIs), and their caregivers. The program will contribute to closing gaps mainly towards HIV case finding (the first 95) while maintaining the gains of the second and third 95 of the UNAIDS target. Collaboration with the Government of Cameroon (including the Ministry of Public Health and the National AIDS Control Committee), PEPFAR clinical partners, the Global Fund, and local community organizations will be essential to ensure the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based case finding, family-centered where necessary and population-specific interventions.

Job Description

The EpiC Cameroon Senior Technical Officer – Data Analytics & Health Informatics will report to Senior Strategic Information (SI) Advisor and closely collaborate with the Community Technical Advisor and project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) teams at central, zonal and CBO levels. S/he will oversee the management of the project databases and health information system. This will involve overseeing adherence to the project reporting cycle, designing and developing database applications, developing and implementing data security and confidentiality policies, and providing technical assistance aimed at strengthening collection, analysis, and use of data for decision making. The position is expected to create dashboards and utilize tools to monitor program implementation. The Senior Technical Officer will supervise and utilize large data sets to find opportunities for improving program implementation, strategy optimization, and providing data-driven feedback to both the Government of Cameroon and DOS.

Further, the Senior Technical Officer will build capacity building in DHIS 2 (aggregate and e-tracker) and other databases used for donor reporting; development and monitoring of standards in program data management; development and implementation of program data security and data quality policies and operational guidance; designing and developing health-related data entry and database applications; assisting program links between client level health service delivery software and aggregate databases, or between program and national/donor level databases; supporting technical and user documentation of databases; and assisting with programming charts and other data display/visualization products including GIS, and promoting easy access to these products, and the ability to perform custom analyses within program teams.

Local nationals strongly preferred.

Job Responsibilities:

• Promotes stable, functional and user-friendly data management platforms, monitors and optimizes database design, content, structure and other data management issues.

• Provides support and leadership for Cameroonian counterparts to design and develop database applications in response to FHI 360’s information needs, using a mixture of DHIS 2, MS Excel, Access, Comm Care, VB, Java, Jasper Reports, ODK and SQL/MySQL.

• Oversees installation and maintenance of developed applications, writes application manuals, and trains users. Recommends hardware and software upgrades to databases and servers as needed.

• Provides technical assistance related to ongoing design, maintenance and upgrading support to custodians and users of program databases and related applications.

• Trains and supervises others in specific data processing and design tasks.

• Develop data analysis plans and prepare reports based on data analysis plans

• Work with stakeholders and the organization to identify opportunities for leveraging innovative technology/statistical models for business development.

• Mine and analyze data from company databases to drive optimization and improvement of implementation strategies.

• Develop custom data models and algorithms to apply to data sets.

• Assess the effectiveness and accuracy of new data sources and data gathering techniques.

• Determination of power and sample size requirements for studies - Cleaning, merging, and preparing analytic datasets

• Advise and assist in the development of inferences and conclusions, as appropriate

• Use predictive modeling to increase and optimize program outputs.

• Coordinate with different functional teams to implement models and monitor outcomes.

• Develop processes and tools to monitor and analyze model performance and data accuracy.

• Communicate and guide Cameroonian counterparts regarding their HMIS health database development, maintenance and improvement needs.

• Reviews output indicator calculations in databases, and export/import of data between different software applications, while maintaining data integrity.

• Helps program links between client level data systems and aggregate databases.

• Build capacity in data management issues (e.g., deletion of records, query management, data audit trails, internet reports) within the data users’ group.

• Advice on incorporation of data quality checks in program databases.

• Helps with programming data visualization products, including producing regular high-quality analysis products at country program level.

• Leads and motivates teams to produce timely and high-quality results from program databases, including managing consultants where necessary.

• Provides guidance and monitors adherence to standards related to data security, including user access and database documentation, performing backup and recovery of program databases.

• Develops and ensures adherence to policies that ensure the security and confidentiality of FHI 360’s/MoH identifiable health data, including adherence to relevant national and international standards.

• Advice in the management of the hardware and software as related to the operations of the databases, including system development and maintenance, recommends purchase of new hardware and software, maintenance of records and reports relating to database operations and data/project archives. Provide leadership in the use of major health related software.

• Represents FHI 360 and makes presentations at professional meetings and conferences related to HMIS issues. Documents best practices in HMIS and disseminates appropriately.

• Remains informed of current issues regarding HMIS applications and trends in the HIV/AIDS fields

Education Qualification/ Skills & Experience

• Master’s degree or its equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Health Information Management, Statistics, Mathematics or another quantitative field with 6+ years of relevant experience.

• Typically requires 6+ years of relevant experience managing data collection and technical assistance experience.

• Prior work experience in a non-governmental organization (NGO), government agency, or private organization, preferred.

• Experience using statistical computer languages (R, Python, SLQ, STATA, SAS, etc.) to manipulate data, query databases, and draw insights from large data sets.

• Experience working with and creating data architectures.

• District Health Information System (DHIS 2), MS SQL/MySQL Design and Server Administration, Comm Care, MS Access/Excel, Power BI, other relational database design and analysis

• Good knowledge of programming principles and languages.

• Strong problem-solving skills with an emphasis on innovation design and strategic frameworks using technology.

• Knowledge of a variety of machine learning techniques (clustering, decision tree learning, artificial neural networks, etc.) and their real-world advantages/drawbacks.

• Demonstrated ability to independently complete assigned tasks, train and facilitate learning and professional development among colleagues

• Familiarity with client/server or multi-platform application development.

• Solid understanding of basic assumptions of developing country public health practices for data acquisition and quality assurance.

• Well-developed written and oral communication skills.

• Knowledge and experience in project-level database design and administration

• Familiarity with Cameroonian public sector health systems and NGOs and CBOs is highly desirable.

• Ability to work well with others and to develop and maintain compatibility among project staff, government stakeholders, CBO organizations, implementing partners, consultants and program beneficiaries.

• Ability to travel within Cameroon as needed.

• Fluency in French and English preferred.