Associate, Pandemic Prevention Preparedness And Response

Clinton Health Access Initiative; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A global health organization is seeking a motivated individual to enhance pandemic prevention and response in South Africa. The Associate will focus on strategic technical input and coordination among various stakeholders. The role demands strong communication and analytical skills, supporting coordination, implementation, and reporting of public health activities. Candidates should have a degree in public health and relevant experience in demanding environments. This position is based in Pretoria, with some travel required.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 to 5 years in public or private sector.
• Experience in pandemic preparedness and global health security.
• Strong experience in disease surveillance and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate capacity building and laboratory interventions.
• Liaise with various delivery partners.
• Support stakeholder coordination and analysis.

Skills

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Strategic thinking

Problem-solving

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree in public health or related field

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

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

• 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 in conjunction 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 skillsets 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: CHAI strives to be an equal opportunity employer and promotes fairness, respect, equity and dignity in the workplace.

CHAI welcomes applications from all qualified individuals and encourages people from historically disadvantaged groups to apply.

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 experiences, backgrounds, and cultures.

Position Overview

South Africa faces a high risk for several hazards, including cholera, respiratory pathogens pandemics, civil unrest, storms, fires, and transportation accidents.

These risks require a resilient health system that can respond effectively to public health emergencies while also providing essential health services.

Project Context

• Joint External Evaluation (JEE) recommended strengthening indicator and event‑based surveillance, laboratory quality, and information management systems.
• Basic laboratory capacities at the district and health facility level with linkages between the public National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), veterinary, and private sector laboratories also require support.
• The JEE also recommends an HRH strategy tailored to the public health needs, institutionalization of the epidemiology specialization, implementation of the three‑tiers of the FETP training and optimizing staffing to facilitate implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacity requirements at all levels.

Objectives

• Establish an integrated national surveillance system guided by the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and One‑Health strategies for prompt detection and response to all hazards.
• Strengthen laboratory capacities for optimal sample management and timely testing to inform preparedness, readiness, and response decisions at all levels.
• Implement tailored Human Resources for Health strategy that addresses the workforce needs for optimizing routine health care and provides surge response capacities for epidemics, pandemics, and other public health emergencies.

Role

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong technical capabilities and insight into Pandemic Preparedness and Response to play a key role in strengthening Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) in South Africa through a One Health Approach.

The Associate will assist with shaping the strategy and provide technical input to a growing CHAI team on cross‑cutting pandemic prevention preparedness and response and other public health emergencies.

This individual will support a growing team and multi‑government and multi‑stakeholder relationships including the National Department of Health (NDoH), National Department of Agriculture (NDoA) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), NICD / NHLS, ARC‑OVR, WHO, FAO and UNICEF.

The individual must have exceptional communication and analytical skills, be a strong strategic thinker and be able to adapt to differing programme needs.

This position will work closely with the NDOH, DoA, DFFE, NICD / NHLS, FAO, UNICEF and WHO Laboratory strengthening and capacity building (HRH) workstreams as an Associate to support coordination, implementation and reporting of PPPR activities under the Pandemic Fund grant in support of the NDOH One Health Strategy.

The Associate will be based in Pretoria, South Africa but will regularly travel to various provinces (up to 40%) and will report to the Programme Manager of Pandemic Prevention Preparedness and Response CHAI SA.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate capacity building and laboratory interventions, ensuring activities are executed on time, with quality and in line with national priorities.
• Liaise with the NDoH, DoA, DFFE, WHO, UNICEF, FAO and other delivery partners at different levels of project implementation.
• Assist with stakeholder coordination and support the analysis of existing laboratory handbooks, triaging and sample referral protocols for both animal and human health.
• Provide support in tracking deliverables and preparing internal and external progress updates.
• Contribute to translating Pandemic Fund objectives into actionable workplans and deliverables.
• Assist in organizing stakeholder meetings, workshops, field visits, prepare agendas, minutes and follow‑up action plans.
• Support and coordinate the functions of the Laboratory and HRH Technical Working Groups (TWGs) of the Pandemic Fund.
• Maintain strong relationships across government, partners and other CHAI teams to ensure coordination and alignment of activities.
• Support the implementation of a tailored Human Resources for Health (HRH) strategy that addresses the workforce needs for optimizing routine health care which provides surge response capacities for epidemics, pandemics, and other public health emergencies.
• Document programme activities, share best practices through case studies and publications, and prepare presentations, analyses and reports for donor stakeholder engagements to inform local, regional and global policy and increase the evidence base.
• Support programme expansion and contribute to business development by drafting concept notes, proposals, and seeking additional funding.
• Execute any other additional responsibilities, as requested by the Programme Manager.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a bachelor's degree in public health, animal health, environmental health, epidemiology or a related field; an advanced degree is preferred.
• Minimum of 3 to 5 years of professional experience in demanding, results‑oriented environments in the public sector and / or private sector (e.g. One health, pandemic preparedness, animal health, environmental health).
• Experience working at policy development level, with donors and managing donor funded projects, particularly in pandemic preparedness and response, global health security, and One Health.
• Excellent problem‑solving, analytical and quantitative skills, including attention to detail and experience in disease surveillance and reporting.
• Strong communication skills, including delivery of compelling presentations and documents in Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
• Experience engaging with policymakers, senior government leadership, multiple stakeholders and donors.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently on complex projects and solve challenging problems, in a high‑pressure, fast‑paced and multicultural environment.
• Strategically minded, able to think creatively about long‑term programme objectives and the detailed steps necessary to achieve these goals.

Advantages

• Understanding of public health approaches to pandemic prevention preparedness and response, IHR, One Health, global health security and priority setting.
• Demonstrated ability to identify key trends from complex datasets and translate them into clear advice for decision makers.
• Self‑starter and able to work collaboratively within a team of highly motivated and analytical individuals.