EPILEPSY SPECIALIST-Liberia H/F

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, medical, humanitarian association founded in 1971 providing medical assistance to communities faced with crises endangering their survival. These crises typically take the form of armed conflict but also include epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF is present in some seventy countries worldwide.

Mission

Background

MSF ran an Ebola survivor care project following the large Ebola outbreak in Liberia and other West African countries. This program included mental health care services to address the high level of mental health needs linked to the hemorrhagic fever outbreak but also because of the prolonged conflict which affected Liberia for almost two decades with a high level of violence (large number of atrocities and 250.000 death in a country of then 3.5 million people). Qualified mental health care is largely unavailable in Liberia. There is a 70-bed national psychiatric hospital (E.S. Grant Hospital) which operates with great difficulty. There is one part-time Liberian psychiatrist.

At the end of 2016, the decision was taken to close the Ebola survivor care project and to assess Mental Health needs in the country with idea to start offering mental health services. The evaluation led to the opening of a Mental Health (MH) project in Monrovia: MHgap. Though epilepsy is not a mental health issue, it is considered as such (or as a spiritual malice and/or contagious disease) and widely prevalent in Liberia. The program will position itself on this pathology and try to relocate it as a health issue while offering care management to patients identified with such symptoms. The program aims to improve access to mental health and epilepsy care services within Montserrado County through diagnosis, treatment and referrals in five Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC). In this context,

MSF is currently looking for: Epilepsy Specialist in Liberia

You are responsible to collaborate with MSF and Ministry of Health (MOH) clinicians on the integration of epileptic treatment within the mental health program with basic healthcare services in order to ensure appropriate treatment of patients suffering from severe and common epileptic disorders.

Main accountabilities:

• Assessment of the situation and set up training plan with the epilepsy focal point
• Train Epilepsy focal point and teams of clinicians
• Review patients with misdiagnosis of epilepsy, psychogenic non epileptic seizure. in collaboration with the psychologist and psychiatrist support the clinicians and PSW to provide the better management for these patients
• Participation in medical meeting/case discussion
• Technical support, including case discussion use of Telemedicine/consultant
• On call for emergency patients and referrals
• Finalize patients file forms (initial assessment and follow up form) (if needed)
• Support in the analysis of the MH and EP Data Base and provide inputs of improvement/ discrepancies/ gaps.

Professional skills

Education:

• Medical university degree
• Medical Doctor (MD) specialized in neurology/epilepsy management

Experience:

• Solid experience in pediatric neurology/epilepsy management
• At least 3 years of post-training clinical experience and last clinical experience within 1 year
• Experience working in low resource context
• Experience in teaching/coaching/mentoring and team capacity building
• Tropical Medicine is an asset

Language: Fluent in english

Qualities

• Strategic vision
• People management
• Planning & Organizing
• Leadership
• Teamwork and Cooperation
• Flexibility and teamwork

Position’s specificities

Terms of employment

• Full time international staff position based in Monrovia/Liberia.
• 3 months contract
• Salary according to the MSF salary grid and previous relevant experiences
• Starting date as soon as possible

Contract type

CDD

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, medical, humanitarian association founded in 1971 providing medical assistance to communities faced with crises endangering their survival. These crises typically take the form of armed conflict but also include epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF is present in some seventy countries worldwide.

Mission

Background

MSF ran an Ebola survivor care project following the large Ebola outbreak in Liberia and other West African countries. This program included mental health care services to address the high level of mental health needs linked to the hemorrhagic fever outbreak but also because of the prolonged conflict which affected Liberia for almost two decades with a high level of violence (large number of atrocities and 250.000 death in a country of then 3.5 million people). Qualified mental health care is largely unavailable in Liberia. There is a 70-bed national psychiatric hospital (E.S. Grant Hospital) which operates with great difficulty. There is one part-time Liberian psychiatrist.

At the end of 2016, the decision was taken to close the Ebola survivor care project and to assess Mental Health needs in the country with idea to start offering mental health services. The evaluation led to the opening of a Mental Health (MH) project in Monrovia: MHgap. Though epilepsy is not a mental health issue, it is considered as such (or as a spiritual malice and/or contagious disease) and widely prevalent in Liberia. The program will position itself on this pathology and try to relocate it as a health issue while offering care management to patients identified with such symptoms. The program aims to improve access to mental health and epilepsy care services within Montserrado County through diagnosis, treatment and referrals in five Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC). In this context,

MSF is currently looking for: Epilepsy Specialist in Liberia

You are responsible to collaborate with MSF and Ministry of Health (MOH) clinicians on the integration of epileptic treatment within the mental health program with basic healthcare services in order to ensure appropriate treatment of patients suffering from severe and common epileptic disorders.

Main accountabilities:

• Assessment of the situation and set up training plan with the epilepsy focal point
• Train Epilepsy focal point and teams of clinicians
• Review patients with misdiagnosis of epilepsy, psychogenic non epileptic seizure. in collaboration with the psychologist and psychiatrist support the clinicians and PSW to provide the better management for these patients
• Participation in medical meeting/case discussion
• Technical support, including case discussion use of Telemedicine/consultant
• On call for emergency patients and referrals
• Finalize patients file forms (initial assessment and follow up form) (if needed)
• Support in the analysis of the MH and EP Data Base and provide inputs of improvement/ discrepancies/ gaps.

Professional skills

Education:

• Medical university degree
• Medical Doctor (MD) specialized in neurology/epilepsy management

Experience:

• Solid experience in pediatric neurology/epilepsy management
• At least 3 years of post-training clinical experience and last clinical experience within 1 year
• Experience working in low resource context
• Experience in teaching/coaching/mentoring and team capacity building
• Tropical Medicine is an asset

Language: Fluent in english

Qualities

• Strategic vision
• People management
• Planning & Organizing
• Leadership
• Teamwork and Cooperation
• Flexibility and teamwork

Position’s specificities

Terms of employment

• Full time international staff position based in Monrovia/Liberia.
• 3 months contract
• Salary according to the MSF salary grid and previous relevant experiences
• Starting date as soon as possible

Contract type

Fixed Term Contract

Contract duration

3 mois

Salary

Salary according to the MSF salary grid and previous relevant experiences

3 mois

Salary

Salary according to the MSF salary grid and previous relevant experiences