Public health researcher / socio anthropologist for Assessment and analysis of the use of MUAC by families At ALIMA

L’ESPRIT ALIMA: ’alima’s reason for being is to save lives and care for the most vulnerable populations, without any identity, religious or political discrimination, through actions based on closeness, and, L’innovation et l’ alliance of’organisations and’individuals. We act with humanism, impartiality and respect for l’ethics universal medical. To access patients, we are committed to neutral and independent intervention.

THE VALUES and PRINCIPLES of our action enshrined in our CHARTER

1. The patient first’
2. Revolutionizing the humanitarian medicine
3. Responsibility & freedom
4. Improving the quality of our actions
5. Trusting
6. L’intelligence collective
7. Limit our environmental impact

ALIMA promotes and defends the principles of fundamental human rights. ALIMA has a zero-tolerance approach towards people guilty of’ acts of sexual and gender-based violence as well as’inaction to alleged or proven acts of violence. The protection of those who benefit and are impacted by our intervention is our top priority in everything we do. Anyone collaborating with ALIMA s’engages to :

• Respect the charter, the code of conduct, institutional policies including the policy of protection against abuse of power and gender and sexual violence, corruption and fraud prevention policy ;
• Report any violation of policies, documents framework and procedure to a superior, a superior, a referent, a referent.

CARE – INNOVATE – TOGETHER :Since its creation in 2009, ALIMA has treated more than 7 million patients, and today deploys its operations in 13 countries (12 in’Africa and 1 in Europe). In 2022, we developed 67 humanitarian medical response projects to meet the needs of populations affected by conflict, epidemics and extreme poverty. All these projects are in support of national health authorities through nearly 357 health facilities (including 45 hospitals and 312 health centres). We work in partnership, including with local NGOs, as soon as possible to ensure that our patients benefit from’ expertise where it is located, whether at the level of their country or the rest of the world. In addition, to improve the humanitarian response, we conduct operational and clinical research projects, including,in particular to combat malnutrition and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

THE ALIMA TEAM: More than 2,000 people currently work for ALIMA. The field teams, as close as possible to the patients, receive their support from the coordination teams generally based in the capital of the countries of intervention’. These receive the support of the 3 desk teams and the’ team of the emergency department and openings based at the operational headquarters of Dakar, Senegal. The teams of Paris and New York are actively working on fundraising and’ at the representation of’ALIMA. The rest of the ALIMA Galaxy includes individuals and partner teams working on behalf of’ other organizations such as BEFEN Medical NGOs, Health Alert, SOS Doctors, KEOOGO, AMCP-SP, and others, research organisations PAC-CI, Inserm, the Universities of Bordeaux or Copenhagen,’ONG Solidarity International and many others.

OUR THEMATIC PROJECTS : Malnutrition, Maternal Health, Primary Health, Pediatrics, Malaria, Epidemics (Ebola, Cholera, Measles, Coronavirus, Lassa Fever), Research, Hospitalization, Emergencies, Gender-based Violence, Vaccinations, etc, mental health,

OUR COUNTRIES D’INTERVENTIONS : Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad, Ukraine.

PRESENTATION OPTIMA

OptiMA (Optimizing Acute Malnutrition) is a simplified protocol for the management of acute malnutrition developed with the aim of taking care of more’children, earlier in the fall in acute malnutrition with the same amount of’ nutritional inputs in order to address the shortcomings of the current system that does not allow very low coverage and that often takes in burdens children in advanced stages of severe acute malnutrition. OptiMA is based on 3 principles : 1) early detection of malnutrition through family training to’use of the brachial perimeter bracelet and the detection of edema 2) a protocol of care that admits and discharges children based on the measurement of the brachial perimeter and /or edema 3) the’use of a single therapeutic food (RUTF) for all children with acute malnutrition at doses that decrease as the’child recovers its nutritional status.

ALIMA has already conducted several studies to test this protocol. The first pilot study took place in Burkina Faso, Yako in 2017 (Daures et al BMJ 2020). Since then, two randomized therapeutic clinical trials have been implemented in the DRC in 2019-20 (Cazes et al Lancet Global Health 2022, Cazes et al e-Clinical Medicine 2023) and Niger in 2021-22, Mirriah in collaboration with our research partners, PACCI and’INSERM U 1219 (Bordeaux), current publication. At the same time, pilot, operational and implementation studies of this protocol have been ongoing in Mali (Bamako) since 2020, Chad (Ngouri and Ndjamena) since 2022 , Niger (Mirriah) and Nigeria (Keita) since mid-2023. Since 2020 in all of these operational projects there are > 50,000 children treated with the OptiMA protocol.These projects aim to document the implementation of’a simplified protocol at the’ scale of a health district. These different projects are all carried out in full collaboration with the nutrition departments of the different ministries of health.

Each of the OptiMA projects requires rigorous monitoring. Each project is framed by a research protocol and the authorities actively participate in the steering committees that monitor these projects. In addition to’a protocol and an individual database to document the treatment of each child, we conduct baseline surveys at the beginning of’a project and an annual survey to document the coverage of OptiMA program activities, to measure the prevalence of acute malnutrition and retrospective mortality.

Following several surveys on Bamako and on Ngouri, Chad, we noted difficulties with the PB-families training. In Bamako we find that more than half of women say they measure the PB of their children occasionally and when ALIMA carries out training campaigns with mass screening of children, teams find many children eligible for treatment who are not identified by families. How to adapt messages and communication so that families appropriate the screening activity and act on the results of screening? In Ngouri, there is a challenge of communication and training over long distances.How to adapt the’ screening approach by families when there are large distances to travel? Other researchers in this field are starting to look into these issues and we are looking for a researcher with skills in qualitative evaluation areas to develop a research project in an urban environment (Bamako) and rural (site to choose) to identify barriers to the’appropriation of the’ PB approach by families and propose ways to improve the functioning of this key activity in the’ OPTIMA approach.qualitative evaluation to develop a research project in an urban (Bamako) and rural (site to choose) environment to identify the barriers to the’ appropriation of the PB approach by families and to propose ways to improve the functioning of this key activity in the OPTIMA’ approach.qualitative evaluation to develop a research project in an urban (Bamako) and rural (site to choose) environment to identify the barriers to the’ appropriation of the PB approach by families and to propose ways to improve the functioning of this key activity in the OPTIMA’ approach.

The Dakar-based OptiMA technical team is currently made up of an OptiMA Regional Coordinator, an assistant coordinator, an epidemiologist responsible for database coverage and analysis surveys and 2 data managers. This OptiMA team writes the protocols for new projects, conducts the Baseline and annual surveys, manage the data circuit and are responsible for the integrity of the database and the dashboards which display the main indicators of the 5 projects in close collaboration with the country teams.

Other actors are working on simplified protocols, including Unicef, IRC, ACF and MSF. Collaboration with these actors is essential in order to constitute a common basis of scientific evidence on simplified protocols and, on this basis, to feed a plea during the revision of national and international protocols.

TYPOLOGY OF THE POST

MISSION LOCATION : ALIMA operational headquarters in Dakar or country of origin if based in one of the countries where ALIMA carries out projects, with long trips on the land

FUNCTIONAL AND HIERARCHIC LINKS :

• Hierarchical links

You report to the regional assistant coordinator OptiMA

• Functional links

You have functional links with the OptiMA Coordinator and the nutrition referent, and with the 2 data managers.

You collaborate with the research donors, the ( e ) advocacy office OptiMA, the operational project managers OptiMA in the countries selected for the study.

PROTECTION OF BENEFICIARIES AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY

Level 3: As part of his duties, the incumbent will be required to visit the programs and be in contact with vulnerable children or / and adults. Consequently, the verification of the criminal record or the presentation of a certificate of good life and morals will be necessary. In situations where the impossibility of providing a criminal record or a certificate of good life and morals is established, a declaration on honor will be requested.

MAIN MISSIONS AND ACTIVITIES

The researcher responsible for the qualitative component OptiMA is responsible for the drafting of study protocols for the evaluation of PB activity by families, its implementation, the’analysis and the drafting of reports of results. She/he may be asked to contribute to the reports for the lessor and write scientific articles.

Under the responsibility of the OptiMA Assistant Regional Coordinator, the researcher will prepare and implement the surveys.

• Identify research questions and methodology
• Ensure the completion of the preparatory steps for the implementation of the’study OptiMA ; (draft the protocol and the CRFs, submission to the committees of’ethics and follow-up , recruitment, support to field teams for planning and discussions with the different actors ..) ;
• Conduct field visits preparation ;
• Planning and coordinating investigations
• Assure the role of qualitative technical reference for project coordinators and medical coordinators of missions where there is an OptiMA project.
• Contribute to the drafting of project proposals and donor reports
• Produce clear and concrete recommendations in the final report to address the training, monitoring and communication needs of communities.

Work with country teams to implement protocols

• Plan investigations and therefore coordination of investigators if necessary.
• Provide preliminary training for the conduct of individual interviews
• Follow-up on transcripts of interviews conducted on time
• Coordinate communication with country teams and headquarters.

Ensure communication around OptiMA projects and results

• Improve internal communication on OptiMA projects by producing the analyses of’ indicators of operation in collaboration with the data manager ;
• Work with medical coordinators and heads of mission to follow the schedule of project steering committees and adapt the strategy ;
• Prepare the reports of the results of the surveys to feed into the discussions at the various meetings.

Any other’analyses activity related to OptiMA operational projects

• Contribute to BDD analyses and annual surveys to write manuscripts describing the OptiMA activity in one or more countries ;
• Disseminate research results : Prepare the writing of’at least one scientific article to be published, Prepare posters for submission to conferences or seminars and 2 policy notes.

EXPERIENCES AND COMPETENCES

You hold a Master’s degree in public health, you have knowledge in nutrition and ideally on one of the simplified protocol projects. You have experience in qualitative research (group focus, preparation of’interview guides) and standard approaches relating to a qualitative research protocol (data quality monitoring, etc, ethical process, analysis) that can be planned and implemented. You are at the’aise with the manipulation of databases and in the’utilisation of’analysis software (NVivo etc.). You have the ability to write high quality reports and to make oral presentations. You have an appetite for representation in scientific conferences and seminars.

• Good level of oral and written’anglais

CONDITIONS & REMUNERATION

Duration of the contract : CDD Senegalese law of 12 months, renewable

Taking of post : immediate

Salary: Level 8 on the ALIMA Dakar salary grid with 40-50% of the time to be expected in the field/in OptiMA projects.

• A gross monthly salary of 2,000,000 CF; (before income taxes levied at source) monthly according to family composition.

• A travel allowance of 612 462 CFA francs in the event of a move to Dakar ;

• A housing allowance varying between 2 and 5% of the gross monthly salary depending on the family composition for employees recruited internationally.

Other advantages:

• Complementary health coverage for the employee and his successors in title
• Contribution to tuition fees (children from 2 to 18 years) /nursery (0 to 2 years) according to the policy and ceilings in force.
• 6.5 Weeks of paid leave per year, recovery days depending on the time in the field