Associate, Malaria Program in Santo Domingo, Massachusetts at Clinton Health Access Initiative

Country: Dominican Republic
City: Santo Domingo

Type: Full Time

Program (Division): Country Programs - Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Telecommute: ..
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 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 skill sets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the 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.

CHAI LAC Overview

Since 2014, CHAI has been working across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to support Ministries of Health in their efforts to eliminate malaria. Over the years, CHAI's presence in the region has expanded, leading initiatives in areas such as digital health, dengue control, access to essential medicines, and medical oxygen. CHAI has provided technical and strategic support to several countries, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, and others.

Malaria Program Overview

In Latin America and the Caribbean, CHAI supports Ministries of Health (MoHs) in developing and implementing evidence-based malaria elimination strategies. This includes strengthening operational planning, securing sustainable financing, and building technical capacity to deliver effective interventions. CHAI works closely with MoHs at both central and regional levels to enhance epidemiological and entomological surveillance, adapt case management systems to local contexts, implement targeted vector control strategies, and reinforce supply chain systems. A key focus of CHAI’s approach is supporting countries in evaluating and adopting innovative technologies that can accelerate progress toward malaria elimination.

Position Overview

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated and mission-driven individual to join its country team and support the national malaria program in planning, executing, and scaling effective elimination-focused interventions in the Dominican Republic. The individual will work closely with local health authorities to strengthen malaria surveillance, community-based case management, supply chain management, and targeted vector control interventions. This position also involves providing technical assistance, supporting programmatic planning, monitoring and evaluation, and leveraging data to inform decision-making.

The position reports to the Country Program Manager and receives technical guidance and support from both country and regional technical teams. The role requires a high degree of independence in driving implementation, while closely collaborating with the Ministry of Health and key strategic partners at the subnational level. Frequent in-country travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care (approximately 60% of the time) and occasional international travel may be required.

A successful candidate will demonstrate exceptional organizational, problem-solving, decision-making, and communication skills, along with a deep personal commitment to producing results. CHAI places great value on qualities such as resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and a strong work ethic.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with local and central Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Health Service (NHS) staff to advance the selection, planning, and implementation of evidence-based interventions toward malaria elimination.
• Coordinate with local health partners, local authorities, and the CHAI Dominican Republic team to monitor, evaluate, and support implementation of local-level plans.
• Promote data-driven decision-making by supporting data review meetings among the MOH, NHS, and relevant stakeholders to ensure key findings translate into programmatic action.
• Support supervision, monitoring, and data quality assurance of Community Health Worker (CHW) networks, including data review, coordination of local-level visits, and periodic analysis of transmission dynamics to adapt network activities to foci needs.
• Collaborate with MOH and NHS counterparts to design training plans, develop associated materials, coordinate logistics, and facilitate capacity-building activities for local and central-level staff.
• Support periodic quantification exercises for malaria-related commodities — including diagnostics, treatment supplies, and vector control commodities.
• Support implementation of entomological surveillance and vector control activities, providing technical and logistical assistance for field-level interventions.
• Work alongside local and central level counterparts to strengthen the use of information systems for malaria data collection and analysis.
• Contribute to the development and institutionalization of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
• Proactively identify bottlenecks to malaria elimination strategies and work with regional, local, and partner organizations to develop and implement solutions.
• Explore new tools and interventions for malaria elimination and contribute to the development of operational plans, budgets, and supporting materials for their implementation.
• Support the development, review, and update of national malaria guidelines and normative documents in coordination with the MOH, NHS, and relevant stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the MOH, NHS, and partner organizations to design and implement epidemiological, entomological, and operational research studies, and contribute to the development and review of research papers and technical publications.
• Conduct regular site visits to community health workers and health facilities in malaria-endemic regions alongside local and central MOH staff.
• Serve as a trusted technical resource for MOH and NHS counterparts on malaria elimination.
• Represent CHAI in technical meetings and forums with partner organizations and MOH and NHS officials to advance malaria elimination priorities.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with local, regional, and central health staff involved in malaria elimination.
• Manage program-related administrative and financial processes, including budget preparation, vendor and ICA selection, cash advance requests and reconciliation, payment documentation, and expense report submission in compliance with organizational SOPs.
• Perform other tasks as necessary.

Qualifications:

Education and Experience

• Master’s degree with at least 2 years of relevant experience, or bachelor’s degree with at least 4 years of relevant experience. Acceptable fields of study/work include health-related disciplines, biology, entomology, community engagement and similar.
• Experience living and working in resource-limited areas.

Soft Skills

• Strong problem-solving skills and analytical capabilities.
• Detail-oriented with strong organization skills.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and effectively set priorities.
• Ability to be effective, patient and thoughtful in high-pressure situations.
• Ability to work well both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI’s mission.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships in a challenging environment.
• Strong decision-making skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.

Hard Skills

• Demonstrated proficiency with data analysis tools.
• Demonstrated proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).
• Fluency in Spanish and English.

Others

• Availability to travel in-country 80% of the time.

Advantages

• Fluency in Haitian Creole.
• Advanced degree in public health, global health, epidemiology, biology, public administration, or business.
• Experience implementing successful health projects, ideally malaria-specific projects and operational research.
• Experience developing database systems and using statistical software for data analysis.
• Experience with geospatial software.
• Experience living and working in Latin America or the Caribbean, preferably the Dominican Republic or the broader Caribbean region.
• Experience working with governments and institutions from Latin America.
• Experience in working with malaria and/or other infectious diseases programs.
• Valid work authorization in the Dominican Republic.

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