Akros (www.akros.com) is a cutting edge organization that establishes data-driven systems to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged communities. Akros provides technical assistance to a large number of DHIS2 (www.dhis2.org) implementations in the sub-Saharan Africa region, and directly manages several large-scale DHIS2 instances in Zambia and the region. In Rwanda, Akros is a partner on the USAID funded Ingobyi Activity, a consortium led by IntraHealth International, that is collaborating with the Rwanda Ministry of Health to reduce preventable infant and maternal deaths, reduce the incidence of malaria, and bring high-quality, integrated health services to more Rwandan mothers, children, and adolescents. The Activity works in 20 districts to:
- Increase equitable access to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and malaria services in targeted district
- Improve the quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and malaria services along the continuum of care in targeted districts
- Strengthen the performance of the health system at both central and decentralized levels
Akros will contribute to these goals by promoting virtuous data cycles and institutionalizing quality improvement approaches to health services. The Informatics & Data Use Advisor will be based in Kigali, Rwanda, seconded to IntraHealth International Ingobyi Activity office, and will provide implementation support to Akros for a broad range of activities related to health information systems and promotion of data use.
Position Overview:
The Informatics & Data Use Advisor will work closely with the Ingobyi MEL Team to provide training and continuous mentoring of health facility data managers. S/he will support building system users’ capacity in DHIS2, developing resource materials and protocols, and driving demand for data quality and use. The Informatics and Data Use Advisor will also work with Akros to develop and utilize new technologies to address RMNCH and malaria implementation issues. This will likely entail creating, modifying and maintaining an intervention modeling platform.
Responsibilities:
- Support the Ingobyi Activity Senior Data Demand and Use Advisor to provide programmatic guidance and technical assistance to strengthen knowledge management and data demand within the Ingobyi Activity and throughout all levels of the health sector
- Coordinate with MOH/RBC administration regarding HMIS: recommend policy and procedures for the HMIS as they relate to the data, including system configurations, data elements to be collected, and access rights.
- Support the Senior Data Demand and Use Advisor to develop appropriate strategies and tools for strengthening the use of HMIS data, including the creation of DHIS2 training resources, user guides, and data use protocols.
- Support the District Health Data Analysts to build the capacity of data managers and quality improvement teams to implement tools and approaches through training and workshops.
- Support the District Health Data Analysts to build national, provincial, district, and facility-level demand for and ability to use HMIS data for performance management, planning of health interventions, and quality improvement.
- Develop coherent and technology-appropriate solutions to increase the impact of RMNCH and malaria health interventions; identify specifications for meeting user requirements and coordinate with expert developers to build.
- Support Rwanda Health Analytics Platform upgrades and development of dashboard data visualizations and maps for improved data use at all levels of the health sector.
- Explore opportunities for automated pushes from DHIS-2 and RHAP to decision-makers to trigger evidence-based action.
- Create maps or scorecards and support their use to increase the impact of community-level interventions by providing decentralized levels with visual data about coverage of RMNCH and Malaria services comparing their performance to encourage healthy competition or motivation for the administration to more closely monitor and engage in community-level health.
- Support Ingobyi technical staff to access and use other data visualization technologies for ongoing program monitoring and adaptability. E.g. Power BI, QGIS/Reveal and other applications.
- Perform other duties as assigned
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree in public health, statistics, health informatics, knowledge management, or a related area from an accredited institution required; Masters preferred
- Minimum of three years experience in developing and maintaining health (or other) information systems.
Other Skills and Abilities:
- Strong communication skills including the ability to effectively transmit, explain complex technical concepts in simple, clear language appropriate to the audience
- Expertise in DHIS2; the ideal candidate will have worked with Rwanda HMIS instances
- Demonstrated ability to analyze, interpret, and present data such that it can be easily understood and relevant for decision making
- Experience in database design, data integration and mapping
- Professional fluency in oral and written English and Kinyarwanda
How to apply & application deadline
To apply, please send CV and cover letter via email to careers@akros.com. Include “Application for Informatics & Data Use Advisor” in the subject line.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a closing date of March 26, 2021.
