MEDICAL DATA REFERENT

Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in 1971, is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of medical professionals, logistics, administrative and various other professions, all guided by our medical ethics and our principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.

MSF WaCA, created in 2019, is the first MSF headquarters in Africa, and responds to the desire to reinvent the MSF movement after 50 years of humanitarian actions in the world, for more access to care, more reactivity and proactivity for greater medical coverage of affected populations in the world.

Why join us?

You are preparing to become a member of the MSF family, with over 50 years of emergency medical action that earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

We are an inclusive organization that considers social and professional well-being a right for all and provides an environment that considers the diversity of each member.

MSF WaCA claims an African anchorage that considers the local expertise with which it contributes to the implementation of its activities and makes each member, a key actor of the new dynamics of the humanitarian action in the world.

We Are Looking for: MEDICAL DATA REFERENT

Department: Medical

Direct Manager: Head of Epidemiology

Functional Manager: Head of Epidemiology

Working %: 100%

Position Based in: Abidjan, HQ

Mobility: All WaCA’s Interventions Zones

Type of Contract: Fixed-Term Contract under Ivorian law; Renewable

Position to be filled: As Soon As Possible

Objectives

The need for solid, valid medical epidemiological data for decision-making is a crucial component of the medical-humanitarian response. But in many of the contexts in which MSF works, acquiring this data is logistically and technically difficult.

MSF's operational centers (OCs) have all recently invested in the DHIS2 platform. MSF WaCA wishes to align itself and has decided to join the same platform for the Health Information System (HIS) but taking advantage of the experiences of the other COs to set up a more flexible system oriented towards project management rather than exhaustive documentation of our intervention. The HIS at MSF WaCA is designed to be agile and adaptive. In addition to the importance of data described above, data is also essential for accountability to our patients, the communities we serve, donors and partners. In addition to these requirements, MSF-WaCA aims to be an organization whose decision-making and project management are based on evidence derived from data.

The HIS project is both essential and complex. Essential, because it must meet MSF-WaCA's objective of being a data-driven organization, and complex, because in addition to the medical department, it involves the actions of several departments, including IT, digital transformation, finance and human resources. 

In terms of structure, HIS reports to the Medical Director and is under the technical supervision of MSF-WaCA's Epidemiology Manager.

Main responsibilities

Responsibilities Specific to the MSF Section / Context

Creation and standardization of HIS content

§  Ensure consistency of data models in HIS with medical content

§  Facilitate field projects to develop best practices in data management processes and propose improvements where appropriate.

§  Update and maintain HIS data model and indicator technical documentation.

§  Draft standard operating procedures (SOPs) on system upgrades and make them available in good time to the relevant stakeholders.

§  Participates in the review and modification of HIS content.

§  Support to field team and headquarters for HIS

§  Keep abreast of current issues and realities in the field to understand operational challenges and constraints that could compromise HIS adoption.

§  Provide both field and head office users with support in defining and prioritizing the indicators to be collected, and in analyzing and interpreting them.

§  Ensure timely and appropriate responses to HIS user queries. 

§  Provide support to field teams/operations management on the creation/maintenance of medical and operational dashboards and/or other relevant interventions.

§  Carry out briefings and debriefings of HIS field staff at WaCA and ensure induction of incoming HIS staff.

§  Determines training needs related to health information systems and proposes training plans.

§  In close collaboration with HIS officer, country epidemiologists and data analysts, ensure that paper and standardized data collection tools are shared with field projects.

§  Analyze or monitor indicator trends to identify research hypotheses and propose research questions based on these data.  

§  Participates in the prioritization of topics for in-depth analysis in collaboration with medical advisors, operational teams, epidemiologists and the research coordinator.

§  Supports staff in the field or at headquarters to carry out data analyses that go beyond routine reporting.

§  Follows up on project logframes in the field, regularly sharing results with field teams as well as with the medical and operations departments in order to assess the level of project completion or inform programmatic adjustments.

§  Prepares or contributes to manuscripts for publication on selected topics.

§  Presents data at scientific conferences or supports field or headquarters teams in doing so.

As with any MSF position, especially in the regional epidemiological context which may involve mobility, the responsibilities and tasks of this position are likely to evolve during the assignment.

Education

§  University degree in medicine, combined with training in health information systems, such as a master’s degree in information systems and computer technology for health, or in health information systems engineering, or a master’s degree in e-health.

§  Practical training or certificate in medical data management

§  Training or proven ability through previous work in the field of medical data analysis and visualization (dashboard development) using R, Python or power BI)

Competencies

§  Engagement and Training

§  Personnel management

§  Flexibility

§  Results

§  Training

§  Teamwork

§  Initiative

Professional experience required

§  Experience with health information systems.

§  Experience in bug management and documentation.

§  Experience working in Africa is an asset.

§  Knowledge of DHIS2 software an asset.

§  Field experience in the NGO health sector, preferably with MSF.

§  Experience in training facilitation. Experience in training trainers desirable.

§  Experience in applied epidemiology in developing countries.

§  Experience in nutritional surveys (an asset).

Languages Skills

§  Working proficiency in English and French

§  Local language (Hausa, Tamasheq, Fulfulbian, Arabic) is an asset 

Computer Skills

§  Knowledge of open source data collection and management tools: DHIS2, ODK,ODOO etc...

§  Knowledge of Python, R & Javascript for data processing and analysis

§  Knowledge of data visualization tools such as DHIS2, Tableau, PowerBI

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MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.

Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.

N.B.: This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.

 Deadline: March 19th 2025 18:00 GMT
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.