Public health researcher/socio anthropologist for Evaluation and analysis of the use of MUAC by families At ALIMA

THE ALIMA SPIRIT: ALIMA’s purpose is to save lives and care for the most vulnerable populations, without any discrimination based on identity, religion or politics, through actions based on proximity, innovation and alliance of organizations and individuals. We act with humanism, impartiality and respect for universal medical ethics . To access patients, we are committed to intervening in a neutral and independent manner.

THE VALUES and PRINCIPLES of our action enshrined in our CHARTER

1. The patient first
2. Revolutionizing humanitarian medicine
3. Responsibility and freedom
4. Improve the quality of our actions
5. Trust
6. L’intelligence collective
7. ​​Limit our environmental impact

ALIMA promotes and defends the principles of fundamental human rights. ALIMA has a zero tolerance approach towards people guilty of acts of gender-based and sexual violence as well as towards inaction in the face of alleged or proven acts of violence. The protection of those benefiting and impacted by our intervention is our top priority in everything we do. Anyone collaborating with ALIMA undertakes to:

• Respect the charter, the code of conduct, institutional policies including the policy for protection against abuse of power and gender-based and sexual violence, the policy for the prevention of corruption and fraud;
• Report any violation of policies, framework documents and procedures to a superior, a supervisor, a referent.

CARE – INNOVATE – TOGETHER: Since its creation in 2009, ALIMA has treated more than 7 million patients, and today deploys its operations in 13 countries (12 in Africa and 1 in Europe). In 2022, we developed 67 humanitarian medical response projects to meet the needs of populations affected by conflicts, epidemics and extreme poverty. All of these projects support national health authorities through nearly 357 health structures (including 45 hospitals and 312 health centers). We work in partnership, particularly with local NGOs, whenever possible to ensure that our patients benefit from expertise where it is located, whether in their country or the rest of the world. Furthermore, to improve the humanitarian response, we are carrying out operational and clinical research projects, particularly to combat malnutrition and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

THE ALIMA TEAM : More than 2,000 people currently work for ALIMA. The field teams, closest to the patients, receive their support from the coordination teams generally based in the capital of the countries of intervention. They receive support from the 3 desk teams and the emergency and openings service team based at the operational headquarters in Dakar, Senegal. The Paris and New York teams are actively working on fundraising and representing ALIMA. The rest of the ALIMA Galaxy includes individuals and partner teams who work on behalf of other organizations such as the medical NGOs BEFEN, Alerte Santé, SOS Médecins, KEOOGO, AMCP-SP, the research organizations PAC-CI, Inserm , the Universities of Bordeaux or Copenhagen, the NGO Solidarités International and many others.

OUR PROJECT THEMES : Malnutrition, Maternal Health, Primary Health, Pediatrics, Malaria, Epidemics (Ebola, Cholera, Measles, Coronavirus, Lassa Fever), Research, Hospitalization, Emergencies, Gender-Based Violence, vaccinations, mental health,

OUR COUNTRIES OF INTERVENTION: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad, Ukraine.

OPTIMA PRESENTATION

OptiMA (Optimize Acute Malnutrition) is a simplified protocol for the management of acute malnutrition developed with the aim of caring for more children, earlier in the fall into acute malnutrition with the same quantity of nutritional inputs in order to respond to the inadequacies of the current system which allows very low coverage and which often takes care of children in advanced stages of severe acute malnutrition. OptiMA is based on 3 principles: 1) early detection of malnutrition through training of families in the use of the upper arm circumference bracelet and the detection of edema 2) a care protocol which admits and discharges children based on the measurement of upper arm circumference and/or edema 3) the use of a single therapeutic food (RUTF) for all children with acute malnutrition at doses which decrease as the child recovers his nutritional status.

ALIMA has already conducted several studies to test this protocol. The first pilot study took place in Burkina Faso, Yako in 2017 (Daures et al BMJ 2020). Since then, two therapeutic randomized clinical trials have been implemented in the DRC in 2019-20 (Cazes et al Lancet Global Health 2022, Cazes et al e-Clinical Medicine 2023) and in Niger in 2021-22, in Mirriah in collaboration with our research partners, PACCI and INSERM U 1219 (Bordeaux), publication in progress. At the same time, pilot, operational studies for the implementation of this protocol have been underway in Mali (Bamako) since 2020, Chad (Ngouri and Ndjamena) since 2022, Niger (Mirriah) and Nigeria (Keita) since mid-2023. Since 2020 in all of these operational projects there have been > 50,000 children treated with the OptiMA protocol. These projects aim to document the implementation of a simplified protocol at the scale of a health district. These different projects are all carried out in full collaboration with the nutrition departments of the various ministries of health.

Each OptiMA project requires rigorous monitoring. Each project is governed by a research protocol and the authorities actively participate in the steering committees which monitor these projects. In addition to an individual protocol and database to document the treatment of each child, we conduct baseline surveys at the start of a project and an annual survey to document the coverage of OptiMA program activities, to measure the prevalence of acute malnutrition and retrospective mortality.

Following several surveys in Bamako and Ngouri, Chad, we noted difficulties with PB-family training. In Bamako we see that more than half of the women say they measure their children’s MUAC occasionally and when ALIMA carries out training campaigns with mass screening of children, the teams find many children eligible for treatment who are not identified by families. How can we adapt messages and communication so that families take ownership of the screening activity and act on the screening results? In Ngouri, there is a challenge of communication and training over great distances. How can the family screening approach be adapted when there are great distances to travel? Other researchers in this field are starting to look into these questions and we are looking for a researcher with skills in the areas of qualitative evaluation to develop a research project in an urban (Bamako) and rural (site to choose) to identify the barriers to the appropriation of the PB approach by families and propose means to improve the functioning of this key activity in the OPTIMA approach.

The OptiMA technical team, based in Dakar, is currently made up of an OptiMA Regional Coordinator, an assistant coordinator, an epidemiologist responsible for coverage surveys and analyzes on the databases and 2 data managers. This OptiMA team writes protocols for new projects, conducts Baseline and annual surveys, manages the data circuit and is responsible for the integrity of the database and the dashboards which display the main indicators of the 5 projects in close collaboration with country teams.

Other actors are working on simplified protocols, including Unicef, IRC, ACF and MSF. Collaboration with these stakeholders is essential in order to constitute a common basis of scientific evidence on simplified protocols and, on this basis, to fuel advocacy during the revision of national and international protocols.

POSITION TYPOLOGY

LOCATION OF MISSION: ALIMA operational headquarters in Dakar or country of origin if based in one of the countries where ALIMA is carrying out projects, with long trips to the field

FUNCTIONAL AND HIERARCHICAL LINKS:

• Hierarchical links

You report to the OptiMA deputy regional coordinator

• Functional links

You have functional links with the OptiMA Coordinator and the nutrition referent, and with the 2 data managers.

You collaborate with the research donor referent, the OptiMA advocacy manager, the OptiMA operational project managers in the countries selected for the study.

PROTECTION OF BENEFICIARIES AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS

Level 3: As part of their duties, the position holder will be required to visit programs and be in contact with children and/or vulnerable adults. Therefore, a criminal record check or presentation of a certificate of good conduct will be necessary. In situations where it is impossible to provide a criminal record or a certificate of good conduct, a sworn declaration will be requested.

MAIN MISSIONS AND ACTIVITIES

The researcher responsible for the OptiMA qualitative component is responsible for writing the study protocols for the evaluation of the PB activity by families, its implementation, analysis and writing of the results reports. She/he may be asked to contribute to reports for the donor and write scientific articles.

Under the responsibility of the OptiMA Deputy Regional Coordinator, the researcher will ensure the preparation and implementation of the surveys.

• Identify research questions and methodology
• Ensure the completion of the preparatory stages for the implementation of the OptiMA study; (drafting the protocol and the CRFs, submission to the ethics and monitoring committees, recruitment, support to field teams for planning and discussions with the various stakeholders, etc.);
• Carry out field preparation visits;
• Plan and coordinate investigations
• Ensure the role of qualitative technical referent for project coordinators and medical coordinators of missions where there is an OptiMA project.
• Contribute to the drafting of project proposals and donor reports
• Produce clear and concrete recommendations in the final report intended to meet the needs of communities in terms of training, monitoring and communication.

Work with country teams to implement protocols

• Plan investigations and therefore coordinate investigators if necessary.
• Provide preliminary training for the conduct of individual interviews
• Ensure follow-up of transcriptions of interviews carried out on time
• Coordinate communication with country teams and headquarters.

Ensure communication around OptiMA projects and results

• Improve internal communication on OptiMA projects by producing analyzes of operating indicators in collaboration with the data manager;
• Work with medical coordinators and mission heads to follow the schedule of project steering committees and adapt the strategy;
• Prepare reports of survey results to fuel discussions at various meetings.

Any other analysis activity linked to OptiMA operational projects

• Contribute to analyzes of databases and annual surveys to write manuscripts describing OptiMA activity in one or more countries;
• Disseminate research results: Prepare the writing of at least one scientific article intended for publication, Prepare posters for submission to conferences or seminars and 2 policy notes.

EXPERIENCES ET COMPETENCES

You hold a Master’s degree in public health, you have knowledge of nutrition and ideally one of the simplified protocol projects. You have experience in qualitative research (focus group, preparation of interview guides) and standard procedures relating to a qualitative research protocol (monitoring data quality, ethical process, analysis) that you can plan and implement. You are comfortable with handling databases and using analysis software (NVivo etc.). You have the ability to write quality reports and make oral presentations. You have an appetite for representation in scientific conferences and seminars.

• Good level of oral and written English

CONDITIONS AND REMUNERATION

Duration of contract: 12-month fixed-term contract under Senegalese law, renewable

Taking up position: immediate

Salary: Level 8 on the ALIMA Dakar salary scale with 40-50% of time to be expected in the field/in OptiMA projects.

• A gross monthly salary of 2,000,000 F CF; (before income taxes deducted at source) monthly depending on family composition.

• A travel allowance of 612,462 F CFA in the event of a move to Dakar;

• A housing allowance varying between 2 and 5% of the gross monthly salary depending on family composition for employees recruited internationally.

Other advantages:

• Supplementary health coverage for the employee and their dependents
• Contribution to school fees (children aged 2 to 18)/crèche (0 to 2 years) according to the policy and ceilings in force.
• 6.5 weeks of paid leave per year, recovery days depending on time in the field

How to apply

To apply, please send your CV and Cover Letter (in French or English) online

Applications are processed in order of arrival.

ALIMA reserves the right to close the offer before the deadline initially indicated if an application is accepted.

Only complete applications (CV in PDF format + Cover Letter) will be considered.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged.

Lien de candidature:

CLICK HERE TO APPLY