PATH is a global organization that works to accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses, social enterprises, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing health challenges. With expertise in science, health, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales solutions—including vaccines, drugs, devices, diagnostics, and innovative approaches to strengthening health systems worldwide.

International development and global health represent one of the greatest opportunities for the impact of digital technologies on a global scale. New technologies, approaches, and tools are emerging daily, unfortunately into a fragmented and immature digital health market landscape that currently limits their promise to transform country health systems and accelerate and amplify progress towards national and global health goals.

PATH’s Center of Digital and Data Excellence (CoDE) is working on a project funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop, implement, use, and evaluate interoperable health information systems to achieve HIV/AIDS and TB epidemic control through improved health informatics policy, governance, workforce capacity, and systems under PEPFAR.

Under this award, PATH is working with the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Health Informatics Team (HIT) to implement several organizational objectives, one of which is the establishment of the necessary policy, governance, and standards frameworks needed to support development of e-Health strategies, information systems, electronic health information exchanges (HIEs), and human resources for health. The HIT Technical Assistance Platform (TAP) project is a step towards achieving a digital public health future. The focus of the HIT TAP for its initial year is to address the following current fundamental challenges:

• Opening up existing health informatics data “silos” within and across PEPFAR countries:
  • Guiding national laws and legal provisions to support digital health informatics initiatives.
  • Ensuring the confidentiality and security of patient information.
  • Ensuring consistent HIE standards within and across PEPFAR countries to facilitate electronic data exchange.
• Ensuring all country team leadership, partners, and processes are informatics-savvy.
• Providing country staff with basic skills to manage informatics contracts and contractors.
• Tracking and managing PEPFAR’s informatics investments.
• Monitoring and measuring health informatics development progress and impact.

PATH seeks a Senior Technical Officer in Ethiopia to support the CDC country office and implementing partners to oversee and coordinate activities under the TAP project. The Senior Technical Officer will organize, coordinate, manage, and document work conducted under the TAP project funded by NOFO GH20-2036, specifically in relation to support of the Africa CDC HIE Framework. The Senior Technical Officer will also work in close collaboration with in-country HIS partners to deliver on the TAP project activities. The Senior Technical Officer is expected to be seconded to the Africa CDC Office in support of responsibilities as outlined below.
 

Responsibilities:

• Support the continued development of the Africa CDC HIE framework, aligning with WHO HIV Digital Adaptation Kit, by focusing on standards, policy, and governance.
• Support and curate the development of a Toolkit containing implementation guidance, advocacy materials, and Standard Operating Procedures for countries that are adopting the HIE Framework.
• Coordinate inclusion of relevant FHIR Implementation Guides, identified by or developed under the TAP project, within the HIE Framework and associated Toolkit..
• Facilitate country engagement for TAP-identified countries (e.g., Ethiopia, Nigeria) on the HIE framework; convey feedback from countries to TAP partners and Africa CDC.
• Facilitate engagement with WHO, WHO-AFRO, and external partners on the HIE framework.
• Support countries in the orientation to and utilization of the Toolkit and Framework for their country-contextualized adaptation of the HIE Framework and associated FHIR implementation Guides that will be developed under the TAP project.
• Identify and analyze project-specific issues or concerns and their impact on operations. Work with implementing partners, CDC headquarters office, and CDC country offices on solutions.
• In partnership with in-country HIS partner, schedule, prepare, attend, manage, record, and share country-specific TAP meetings/calls (e.g.), technical, implementing partner coordination, country coordination, and outreach). Manage the invitations, agenda, recordings, call notes, and other meeting documents.
• Other:
  • Respond to ad hoc requests for country-specific project and partner coordination activities.
  • Follow up on country-specific activities to ensure goals are met in a timely manner.
  • Complete tasks as requested by CDC country office points of contact.
  • Support technical documentation (e.g., concept notes, etc.) as requested.