Microbiology Laboratory Manager in Beira, Mozambique (m/f/x)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides assistance in more than 60 countries to populations in distress, to victims of natural or manmade disasters and to victims of armed conflicts, without discrimination and irrespective of origin, religion, creed or political affiliation.

MSF Operational Centre Brussels is looking for a Microbiology Laboratory Manager in Beira, Mozambique (m/f/x)

CONTEXT

Beira is an HIV project that works on three components;

• Key population at community (KP); Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and advanced HIV activities at primary health care level;
• Advanced HIV at Emergency Department level in the Beira Central Hospital and
• Operational research.

Beira project is in a stable context, where most known threats are related to criminal activities such as pickpocketing, armed robberies and kidnapping. On political side, Beira is the capital of Sofala and administrated by MDM, a local party, in a stronghold of Renamo. After the instability and violence that occurred in 2015, Renamo and government forces declared a ceasefire. The peace agreement is not yet implemented, although there is a positive sign of improvement between two main political fraction such the agreements over changing of constitution for the direct election on governors at provincial level. The sudden death of the Renamo leader Dhlakama in May 2018 seems to have further weakened the opposition weight in the country that has no relevant and strong leader to replace him. Even though it seems that the government has still kept goodwill towards the opposition, the negotiation over the integration of Renamo fighters in National Army did not progress. Political instability up in Cabo Delgado for the time being seems more related to local issue and has no impact on Sofala yet.

Regarding the health situation, besides the main pandemic of HIV and TB, Mozambique still struggles with seasonal cholera/ diarrhea outbreaks, that affect different areas in the country during every yearly rainy season. Additionally, MSF has been recurrently called to support national vaccination campaigns; this support is given in small scale depending on the needs and MSF capacity to respond.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and more specifically Antibiotic Resistance (ABR), is an increasingly serious threat to public health and has become a priority in the global health agenda. The AMR strategy in MSF is a transversal topic that is integrated into the quality of care. In line with this, MSF Beira project is planning to implement hemoculture tests to understand the AMR pattern for better management of HIV positive patients at Beira Central Hospital (BCH) in Sofala. An MoU is signed, and microbiology lab is rehabilitated at BCH and equipment’s needed to start are order and will arrive in May 2022. According to the MoU signed, MSF will be supporting micro-lab with an MSF microbiologist to:

OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of the position is to provide support BCH Microbiology Laboratory (ML) to ensure reliable results on time for management with targeted treatment rather than empirical treatment by MSF standards and project needs and ensure that the role of the microbiology laboratory in antimicrobial stewardship is enhanced.

• Support the BCH ML team to upgrade the ML to MSF standard based on the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) or European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) to process hemocultures for both HIV and pediatric patients.
• Support the activities from the project side and be the link between MSF project and ML team. MSF Lab Manager will be the link after the departure of the MSF Microbiologist
• Ensure competency of all personnel and adherence to the BCH ML Quality Management System- Report issues with BCH ML staff not working according to the set standards to the management

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Microbiology Laboratory Manager will responsible to:

• Train the Ministry of Health (MoH) microbiologist and laboratory technicians on microbiology techniques in accordance with MSF and international standards.
• Ensure to provide timely, reliable, and reproducible identification of microorganisms and antimicrobial susceptibility results.
• Actively participate in the antimicrobial stewardship committee.
• Ensure the implementation of an Internal and external quality control system in the laboratory.
• Adapt the existing MSF Standard Operation Procedures for microbiology and other tools in accordance with MoH guidelines.
• Ensuring proper registration and records of all microbiology lab-related activities, implementing the correct use of the surveillance program WHONET to have proper records of laboratory results.
• Provide monthly reports based on extracted data from surveillance program WHONET.
• Compile, analyze and report microbiology lab activities and results to the medical staff providing relevant information for AMR surveillance. And IPC.
• Plan and supervise, in close coordination with the supply team the local and international orders for consumables and equipment needed for the microbiology laboratory.
• Monitor laboratory stock ensuring that stock cards are updated to calculate proper Average Monthly Consumptions of commodities to avoid stock ruptures.
• Contribute to the operational research on ABR and its treatment and prevention in the project.
• Collaborate with the M&E team in the development of data tools.
• Ensure all equipment in the ML is functional and report faults timely to the MSF Biomed and other reporting lines.
• Ensure good collaboration with the MoH laboratory team.

REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• Laboratory science/Biologist with clinical microbiology specialization.
• Laboratory scientist/Biologist certified in clinical microbiology
• Clinical microbiologist (MD)
• Clinical pharmacist with microbiology specialization
• Master – PhD – specialization in clinical microbiology

Experience:

• Relevant experience with MSF or with other NGOs/ organisations is required.
• 2 years of relevant professional experience in bacteriology services preferably in a hospital
• Strong competencies in antibiograms analysis and identification of resistance mechanisms
• Experience in team management
• Experience in training
• Language skills: English and Spanish; Portuguese is an asset

CONDITIONS

• Expected starting date: asap
• Contract type: 9-month fixed term contract
• Location: Based in Beira, Mozambique
• Salary according to MSF-OCB Field salary scale
• No family position
• Adhere to the MSF principles and to our managerial values: Respect, Transparency, Integrity, Accountability, Trust and Empowerment
• Adhere to the MSF Behavioral Commitments