Description
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a leading development partner in Mozambique. USAID manages a comprehensive humanitarian and development assistance program totaling over $352 million in FY 2019 covering health, education, agriculture, economic growth, and democracy and governance sectors. Health is USAID’s largest and most expansive portfolio (over $250 million per year), which aims to improve health outcomes in country through support of the Government of Mozambique’s (GRM) Health Sector Strategic Plan. The plan seeks to improve access to and utilization of quality health services through a strengthened national health system. USAID is part of a unified and effective interagency team—including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Departments of State (DOS) and Defense (DOD), and Peace Corps—which aims to fulfill two overarching health goals in Mozambique: to control the HIV epidemic and prevent child and maternal deaths. To accomplish these goals, USAID’s Integrated Health Office (IHO) plans, implements, and monitors activities that include: HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, and water/sanitation/hygiene. IHO, with a total of 69 staff, is comprised of four divisions whose activities are oriented around: HIV and infectious disease; preventing child and maternal deaths; strengthening health systems and commodities security; and providing efficient and effective operations within the office. For HIV, USAID is a leading implementer of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in harmony with CDC, DOD, Peace Corps, and the PEPFAR Coordination Office. The goal of the United States Government (USG) for PEPFAR in Mozambique is to control the HIV epidemic via rapid adoption and application of evidence-based policies and interventions to drive progress and save lives, implemented through a partnership between the USG and the GRM that best supports host country leadership, ownership, and sustainability. PEPFAR achieves this goal by working with the National HIV Program, the National AIDS Council (Conselho Nacional de Combate ao HIV e SIDA, or CNCS), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNAIDS, civil society, and the private sector to target high impact interventions for populations at greatest risk in areas of high HIV prevalence. PEPFAR support is focused on providing technical assistance, training, mentoring, and supportive supervision together with essential commodities and supply chain support to ensure the National HIV Program can test, treat, and achieve viral suppression for Mozambicans living with HIV and prevent new infections to effectively achieve an AIDS-free generation by 2030. The Senior HIV/AIDS Technical Specialist will provide strategy guidance and technical direction on all aspects of HIV treatment and viral suppression programming. This includes, but is not limited to, ART administration through both facility- and community-based modalities, ART retention and adherence, population-specific engagement interventions, and viral load suppression. The incumbent also provides strategy and technical support to the TB and TB/HIV portfolios that are funded by a combination of PEPFAR and non-PEPFAR resources. The incumbent is expected to support and lead, as needed, on agency technical preparations related to HIV treatment, retention, adherence, viral load suppression, and TB. This includes annual planning, implementation, analysis, and reporting while ensuring that monitoring and evaluation functions feed into continuous learning and application for the Infectious Disease Team, within the interagency, and with host country counterparts.