Country

India

Type

Full Time

Program (Division)

Country Programs - India

Additional Location Description

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

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 2002 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 majority of our staff based in program countries.

WJCF is an Indian not-for-profit entity, registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act 2013, and has an affiliation agreement with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Our mission is to save lives and improve health outcomes in the country by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. WJCF has partnered with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and state health departments since 2007, providing technical and operational support across key health priorities, including infectious diseases (COVID-19, hepatitis, HIV, TB, vector-borne diseases), non-communicable diseases (cervical cancer, diabetes, sickle cell disease), maternal and child health (anaemia, immunisation, diarrhoea, pneumonia), sexual and reproductive health, health insurance and digital health (AB PM-JAY, ABDM), oxygen and hypoxemia management, safe drinking water, and climate and health.  

Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

Program Overview

The World Health Organization estimated that 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2022 and ~1.3 million succumbed to it. India accounted for the most people suffering from the disease, with 27% of the cases and 26% of mortality. The National TB Elimination Program (NTEP), headed by the Central TB Division (CTD), MoHFW, is an expansive public health program with the ambitious goal of eliminating TB in line with the mandate of the Sustainable Development Goals.

WJCF has been supporting the CTD and state health departments of more than 15 states in the mission to eliminate TB. WJCF’s TB program has been operational since 2012, and its interventions address several program areas, including preventive therapies, case detection, access to diagnostics, engagement of the private sector, and more. It also lends technical support to Governments across a range of themes- strategic planning, data analytics, monitoring and evaluation, patient management and delivery of services.

WJCF’s current portfolio of work spans support includes an evaluation of the TB drugs demand and supply dynamics, a landscape assessment for the next generation of diagnostic methods, a high-powered multi-disciplinary team translating programmatic information into action, and multiple large-scale interventions to determine the best methods for detecting hidden TB in the community.

Project Background
India’s rapidly urbanising cities — home to over 500 million people and growing — face a recurring burden of vector-borne and water-borne diseases, with dengue, malaria, cholera, and typhoid remaining endemic in informal settlements where drainage, waste management, and water supply remain inadequate. Indian cities exemplify these pressures, with seasonal disease surges recurring each year across wards and peri-urban areas.

Despite sustained investment in surveillance infrastructure through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP), and the Metropolitan Surveillance Unit (MSU) network, a persistent gap remains between data collection and public health action. Peri-urban settlements straddling municipal and district boundaries frequently fall outside the active surveillance catchment of both, and when outbreaks emerge, response teams act without a shared, evidence-based picture of where risk is concentrated.

To address this, WJCF is implementing a 10-month Health Commitment Grant titled "Strengthening the Urban Ecosystem Against Future Disease Threats" under the Tuberculosis Implementation Framework Agreement (TIFA), funded by JSI Research and Training Institute and anchored by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), across five high-risk cities including Ahmedabad. The project converts fragmented environmental, epidemiological, and administrative data into spatially indexed intelligence that ward officers, MSU epidemiologists, and District Surveillance Unit (DSU) teams can directly act on.

In Ahmedabad, across three priority wards, this means a Ward-Level Risk Atlas, an early warning dashboard connecting surveillance data systems with laboratory and supply chain data, targeted upskilling with measurable impact on reporting compliance, and commodity gap mapping against the 72-hour outbreak response minimum, all submitted to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and NCDC as a Surveillance-to-Action blueprint designed for replication.

Position Summary

The Program Officer is the technical implementation lead of the Ahmedabad project team-responsible for building every substantive deliverable the project produces. This includes the data collection protocols and instrument specifications, situational analysis, upskilling modules, City Action Plan framework, simulation drill designs, supply chain gap assessments, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) operating model, and infodemic management Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The role converts programmatic intent into field-tested, government-ready outputs.

The role is embedded in implementation from day one, defining the technical approach before field work begins, coordinating with the team to convert specifications into deployable tools, and producing the documentation that transforms project activities into outputs the government can own and operate. The Program Officer coordinates with Ward Surveillance Officers on technical direction and instrument use and works daily with the Analyst to keep spatial data, field findings, and programmatic decisions connected.

The role calls for someone with strong public health technical foundations, the ability to operate across data, field, and policy-facing outputs simultaneously, and the discipline to produce high-quality written deliverables under programme timelines. The Program Officer reports to the Surveillance lead in Ahmedabad.

1. Situational Analysis & Risk Atlas- Technical Approach & Instrument Design

The Program Officer owns the situational analysis and technical framework for the Risk Atlas. The team converts these specifications into field-deployable tools and spatial outputs.

• Conduct a situational analysis of the existing urban surveillance system across three wards, assessing surveillance coverage, IHIP reporting timeliness and completeness, data quality gaps, laboratory linkages, and peri-urban jurisdictional ambiguities to establish the evidence base for all subsequent deliverables.
• Define the approach and data collection methodology for each Risk Atlas layer, primary field survey versus secondary data, site selection criteria per category (waterborne, vector-borne, surveillance network nodes), and the risk scoring framework specifying how site density, surveillance gap extent, and population vulnerability are weighted into a ward-level risk index.
• Develop the technical specifications for field data collection instruments, form structure, field variables, skip logic, validation rules, and GPS requirements to be piloted in ODK or equivalent survey tools.
• Define the questionnaire for the supply chain gap assessment and stockpile mapping exercise, specifying the commodity list, stock sufficiency thresholds, access protocol variables, and delivery time parameters.
• Compile and integrate secondary government datasets, ward boundaries, drainage layers, waterlogging extents, slum boundaries, health facility lists, and available disease notification data, working with the surveillance team to structure these into the spatial database.
• Map the specimen referral chain from ward health post through the Integrated Public Health Laboratory (IPHL), documenting collection points, transport handover protocols, turnaround benchmarks, and IDSP referral linkages for partner medical colleges and private laboratories.
• Prepare all technical documentation for the Risk Atlas submission, methodology notes, data dictionary, map interpretation guides, and replication guidance with spatial outputs.

1. City Action Plan- Framework Development

The Program Officer develops the technical content of the Ward Action Plan, SOPs, escalation matrices, and inter-departmental frameworks that make it operationally useful.

• Develop the Ward Action Plan framework: governance structure, inter-departmental SOPs, escalation matrices, and alert-to-response trigger protocols for waterborne and vector-borne disease events.
• Translate surveillance data into actionable response protocols, defining early warning thresholds, weekly response planning triggers, and targeted field action pathways that move the system beyond data collection into timely public health response.
• Map private sector reporting pathways, working with private hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and clinics to define case notification SOPs, laboratory linkage protocols, and outbreak alert mechanisms for integration into the Ward Action Plan.
• Prepare all technical inputs for the multi-stakeholder joint review, ward risk profiles, departmental gap summaries, and draft SOP documents.
• Incorporate feedback from the joint review into revised SOPs and the final Ward Action Plan document.

1. Workforce Upskilling- Design & Delivery

The Program Officer designs the upskilling content and delivers field-level sessions across approximately 240 ward health staff.

• Design and administer the Upskilling Needs Assessment tool across ward health staff and DSU officers; compile findings into a gap prioritisation matrix that directly shapes module design.
• Develop contextualised upskilling modules for field health staff (Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM), Community Health Officer, Sanitary Inspector), mid-level officers (Medical Officer-in-Charge, Zone Medical Officer), and senior officials (DSO, MSU team), each grounded in ward-specific risk profiles from the Risk Atlas.
• Deliver field-level upskilling sessions in coordination with Ward Surveillance Officers; support mid and senior-level sessions as required.
• Design simulation drill scenarios, drawing on specific risk sites and alert thresholds from the Risk Atlas; prepare the facilitator guide, observer checklists, and post-drill review framework.
• Support operationalisation of Rapid Response Teams, defining activation protocols, team composition, investigation checklists, and coordination pathways and conduct after-action reviews following drills to identify and close system gaps.
• Prepare the analytical brief on post-upskilling surveillance reporting behaviour change, using compliance data produced by the Team.

1. Supply Chain & Stockpile Management

Translating stockpile data into an actionable gap picture and leaving behind a system AMC can operate independently after project closure.

• Lead the stockpile gap assessment across AMC Medical Stores, MSU Public Health Surveillance and Response Centre (PHSRC), and ward Urban Health Centres (UHCs), mapping availability of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), chlorine residual and coliform field test kits, Dengue NS1 Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), and Malaria RDTs against the 72-hour outbreak response minimum.
• Develop the Stockpile Management SOP: replenishment triggers, escalation pathways, and accountability roles across district hub, ward UHC, and peri-urban outreach nodes.
• Define the inventory tracking template specifications, sufficiency thresholds, expiry tracking fields, and monthly reporting format.
• Coordinate to ensure stock status and delivery time visualisations in the early warning dashboard are consistent with SOP thresholds.

1. RCCE & Infodemic Management

The Program Officer operationalises the community early warning system and develops the SOP that AMC will own at project close.

• Support coordination with Smart City Ahmedabad Development Limited (SCADL) Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and AMC Media Cell to co-develop the health communication protocol, in coordination with the project lead.
• Design the Rumour Sentinel Network operating model: volunteer recruitment criteria, WhatsApp reporting format, triage protocol, escalation pathway to MSU or AMC Media Cell, and 24-hour validation and counter-messaging cycle.
• Lead the first two-week operational cycle of the Rumour Sentinel Network across three wards in coordination with Ward Surveillance Officers; document performance and bottlenecks.
• Develop the Infodemic Management SOP, covering rumour triage, technical validation, counter-messaging formats, and ICCC digital billboard activation protocol for handover to AMC.

1. Team Coordination & Reporting

The Program Officer is the operational hub connecting field findings, spatial data, and programme decisions into a coherent daily implementation flow.

• Coordinate with Ward Surveillance Officers on weekly field plans, tool deployment, and session delivery, providing technical direction on data collection methodology, instrument use, and upskilling content.
• Coordinate daily with the Analyst on data quality, ODK submission status, spatial analysis progress, and dashboard updates.
• Maintain the project's internal activity tracker; flag timeline risks early and propose corrective actions.
• Contribute structured technical inputs to monthly and quarterly donor progress reports; compile field documentation, training records, drill evidence, and SOP outputs for milestone submission packages.

Required

• MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS, or BVSc from a recognised institution; a Master's in Public Health, Epidemiology, or a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health or Health Management is strongly preferred.
• 3–5 years in public health programme implementation, with at least two years of direct experience in integrated disease surveillance — including participation in outbreak investigation, alert generation, or rapid response — at district or municipal level.
• Direct experience of leading or coordinating with government surveillance systems including IDSP, IHIP, State Surveillance Unit (SSU), DSU, or MSU.
• Ability to analyse surveillance data and produce clear epidemiological summaries — including line lists, trend analysis, and before/after compliance comparisons — to support evidence-based programmatic decisions.
• Familiarity with the Indian public health system, key stakeholders, and relevant government policies and strategies, particularly the National Health Mission, NUHM, Ayushman Bharat, and Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.
• Demonstrated experience designing field data collection tools, training materials, or standard operating procedures used in real programme settings.
• Experience coordinating field staff and managing multi-activity implementation plans across concurrent workstreams.
• Strong analytical and documentation skills — able to synthesise field data and research into structured technical documents.
• Strong communication in English and Gujarati or Hindi.
• Willingness to spend approximately 60–70% of time in the field across wards, government offices, and medical colleges in Ahmedabad.
• Familiarity with WHO, CDC, and NCDC guidelines on waterborne and vector-borne disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and response protocols is essential.

Preferred

• Prior experience as a District Rapid Response Team member or IDSP district surveillance officer.
• Exposure to NHM financial and planning guidelines, including the Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) process.
• Familiarity with ODK, SurveyCTO, or equivalent mobile data collection platforms.
• Ability to read and interpret GIS-based risk maps and spatial surveillance outputs.
• Experience designing simulation drills or tabletop exercises for public health response.
• Knowledge of vector control operations, waterborne disease surveillance, or environmental health.
• Working knowledge of AI productivity tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot for report drafting, SOP writing, and data synthesis.

Core Competencies

• Technical Depth: Builds protocols, instrument specifications, and SOPs grounded in ward-level reality.
• Structured Thinking: Organises complex, multi-activity workstreams into logical sequences; anticipates dependencies across field work, data, and government deliverables.
• Field Orientation: Comfortable spending the majority of time in wards and health posts; sees field presence as essential, and not compliance.
• Writing Discipline: Produces clean, precise technical documents, SOPs, module guides, drill scenarios, assessment reports, on programme timelines.
• Coordination: Keeps Ward Surveillance Officers aligned and the Analyst connected to ground realities
• Initiative: Identifies gaps in tools, data, or protocols before they become problems; proposes solutions rather than waiting for direction.
• Adaptability: Redesigns field plans when government access is delayed or data arrives incomplete, without losing the programme thread.

Last Date to Apply: 29th June, 2026