Overview

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.

In 2014, CHAI began working in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) to support the Ministries of Health in their goal to eliminate malaria. Since then, CHAI has continuously grown in the region and has worked on multiple projects including Digital Health, Dengue, Essential Medicines, Medical Oxygen; providing support to various countries: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, among others.

CHAI’s LAC Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases program provides direct technical and operational support to countries in the region to strengthen their vector borne diseases programs and reduce the burden of malaria, dengue, and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

In Panama, CHAI’s LAC Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases program is helping the government to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, to achieve malaria elimination and to reduce the incidence and mortality of dengue.

Overview of role

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to work as a part of its Panama Malaria Team supporting the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Program to plan and execute effective programs in malaria endemic regions (i.e. Darien, Panama Este, Guna Yala). Over the past eight years, CHAI has rapidly engaged in the country and helped them make meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards historic elimination by 2025.

This position will work as a part of CHAI’s Panama team to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate CHAI-supported elimination-focused interventions and help support their scale up at the regional level.

The candidate must be able to work independently and build strong relationships with counterparts in the Ministry of Health and partners institutions to drive progress. The candidate must be willing to travel to relatively remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care. Additionally, the candidate should be highly motivated, committed to producing results and should have robust organizational, problem-solving and communication skills.

CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

This role will report directly to CHAI’s Country Program Manager in Panama. Technical backstopping will be provided by CHAI’s Regional Technical Advisor on Vector Control and Entomological Surveillance.

This position is based in Panama City, Panama. This role requires travel most of the time to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.

Responsibilities

• Strengthen the capacity of regional MoH to select and implement interventions aimed towards achieving malaria elimination.
• Coordinate with local health partners, local authorities, and the CHAI Panama team to monitor, evaluate and implement local-level plans.
• Evaluate the impact of interventions on malaria transmission at the regional and local level.
• Design training plans and support the development of associated training materials to build Ministry of Health staff and community health workers’ capacity to execute malaria interventions effectively.
• Work in collaboration with the local level to support the use of the malaria module and other electronic surveillance systems for malaria.
• Identify key impediments to the successful execution of the malaria elimination strategy and work with the regional and national health authorities and partner organizations to develop and implement solutions to address bottlenecks.
• Explore the utilization of new tools and interventions to eliminate malaria and develop operational plans and other materials to support the implementation of these tools.
• Support local-level Ministry of Health staff with regular site visits to community health workers and health facilities in malaria-endemic regions.
• Work closely with the Program Manager, Darien’s subnational Associate, the Research Associate, the Vector Control Associate, and CHAI´s regional technical advisors to design and implement data-driven actions.
• Identify strategic areas for expansion or redirection and guide strategic planning or proposal development as needed.
• Serve as a trusted adviser for the national and regional Ministry of Health staff on malaria elimination.
• Represent CHAI in meetings with partner organizations and Ministry of Health officials as needed.
• Develop and maintain strong, proactive relationships with national and regional health staff involved in malaria elimination.
• Other responsibilities as needed by supervisor.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus 3+ years of work experience.
• Must be available to travel extensively (60-80%) throughout Guna Yala, and if needed, in other malaria-endemic regions; traveling in boats, small planes, and hiking long distances, must be comfortable.
• Strong problem-solving skills and analytical capabilities.
• Detail-oriented with strong organization skills.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently.
• Experience living and working in resource-limited areas.
• Ability to work well both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI’s mission.
• Ability to be effective, calm, and flexible in high-pressure situations, handle multiple tasks simultaneously, and effectively prioritize.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• This role requires travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care.
• Must be fluent in Spanish; with a professional-level proficiency in English.

Advantages

• Knowledge and experience with malaria and/or infectious disease control programs.
• Experience executing successful health projects, ideally malaria-specific projects.
• Experience developing database systems and using statistical software for data analysis.
• Experience working with governments and institutions from Latin America.
• Experience living and/or working in remote areas in Latin America/Panama.