For decades, most fevers in Africa have been treated as malaria, and international guidelines, national policy and treatment interventions have all assisted in institutionalizing this practice. Today, however, scale-up of malaria control efforts has in many places resulted in significant reductions of malaria morbidity and mortality rates. The age-old practice of equating fever with malaria is no longer appropriate, as on average, over 60% of clinically diagnosed malaria is not malaria. Those other fevers are often caused by treatable yet potentially lethal diseases that, with the continued over-diagnosis of malaria, remain untreated.
There is growing consensus that for greater health impact, cost-effective management of malaria, and accurate understanding of true burden – which enables better planning and resource allocation – public health policy and interventions should focus on improving fever, and not just presumptive malaria, case management. The most recent WHO Guidelines for the Treatment of Malaria state that parasitological confirmation by microscopy or Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) is recommended in all patients before treatment is started.
Starting in January 2012, CHAI will assist four high-burden countries in Africa to move towards universal coverage of malaria diagnosis through the accelerated roll out of RDTs. As part of this support, CHAI will work with the National Malaria Control Program and other malaria partners to address the numerous demand-side barriers that threaten to undermine efficient, effective scale-up of malaria diagnosis, including lack of policy development and adoption, inaccurate product quantifications, poor supply chains, and inadequate quality assurance systems.
Alongside this core demand-side work, CHAI recognizes that there is still a need to contribute to improved supply conditions for malaria RDTs at a global level. While the RDT market has evolved in the past three years with improvements in overall product quality and stabilized pricing, there is a risk that with increased RDT demand from countries, quality, price, and consistency of supply may falter. CHAI also sees fresh opportunities to improve sustainable pricing and user acceptability of RDTs.
Position
The Malaria Diagnosis Market Analyst will be responsible for leading CHAI’s supply-side work, including analyzing current market dynamics, building relationships with key supply-side actors, developing a strategy for deeper-dive interventions.
We seek a highly motivated, entrepreneurial individual with outstanding problem-solving, managerial, analytical, and communication skills. The Analyst must be able to function independently and flexibly and have a strong commitment to excellence. The position will start in January / February 2012 for a period of three-months with the strong potential for extension based on performance and funding. The Analyst will be based in Nairobi, Kenya with frequent international travel.
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Malaria Diagnosis Market Analyst
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