TB Nursing Officer

• Position :   Description
• Job Title :  TB Nursing Officer
• Program/Project  :  RID-TB
• Work Classification : Full-Time, Fixed Term Contract (12 months)
• Reports To : TB Specialist – Public Health
• Location :  Daru, WP

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Burnet Overview
Burnet Institute is a leading Australian medical research and public health organisation focused on achieving  better health for vulnerable communities in Australia and internationally by accelerating the translation of research, discovery and evidence into sustainable health solutions. The Institute is headquartered in  Melbourne with programs that operate across Asia and the Pacific. The NGO operation combines research  activities with practical action through the design and implementation of public health and development
programs. The Institute has headquarters in Melbourne and several international offices, including Port  Moresby and Kokopo in PNG.
Since August 2014, Burnet has been a partner in the response to the TB epidemic in South Fly District and  Western Province. Burnet is contributing to the design and implementation of an effective response to the  epidemic and in monitoring its implementation, in partnership with the Western Provincial Health Office  (PHO), Daru General Hospital, PATH, and World Vision. This includes supporting the implementation of  patient-centred TB care at the facility and community level in Daru, and seeking to better understand the TB
epidemic and responses through monitoring, evaluation, and operational research.
Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in PNG and the Western Province TB program
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of only 14 countries classified by the WHO as having the triple high burden  of TB, MDR-TB and TB-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection. Three hotspot regions have been
identified in the country including Gulf, NCD and Western Province. In Western province the problem has  been further compounded by high levels of drug-resistant TB, with evidence of primary (person to person) transmission of resistant strains, particularly in Daru of South Fly District.
The Western Province TB program, led by the PHA, with support from partners has led to commendable  success, with an increasing recognition of Daru as a ‘center for excellence’ in the programmatic  management of DR TB with outstanding treatment outcomes for patients.
Results using the Optima TB model indicate that detection and treatment of active TB in conjunction with  detection and treatment of TB infection (TBI) offers the greatest and most rapid reduction in TB incidence and transmission. The benefit is sustained over a number of subsequent years and is consistent with the  approach WHO’s regional Green Light Committee (rGLC) have recommended for Daru. Moreover, treating  individuals with TB infection using the proposed population-based test and treatment approach provides far  greater benefit than the current phase of relying only on household contact tracing services by reducing the  infectious pool of TB and the numbers of active cases needed to treat.

Thus the CURB-TB community-wide comprehensive initiative to reduce the burden of TB and MDR-TB in Daru, PNG (CURB-TB) project will implement an island-wide screening approach designed to with the  following objectives:

1. 1. Detect and Treat - Systematic screening of all Daru residents to detect and treat prevalent disease due to drug-resistant and drug-susceptible TB (DS-TB)
2. Prevent – Provide TB preventive therapy or BCG vaccination to eligible Daru residents under 35 years of age to prevent infection and disease due to drug-resistant and drug-susceptible TB
3.  Knowledge transfer – Conduct operational research training in drug-resistant TB and anti-microbial  resistance (AMR) for PNG researchers and support higher degree research student supervision.

Purpose of the position
The TB Public Health Nurse will work with the RID-TB team to implement an effective model of care for the  management of DS-TB,DR- TB and latent TB at the community level in Western Province. The position will  work with community-based nursing and program staff to deliver high quality patient-centered care for DSTB and DR-TB. This includes both treatment for TB disease and TB infection.
This position will contribute to the design, implementation and monitoring of a services delivery model to  scale up contact tracing and TB preventive treatment, integrating management and patient education and  counselling (PEC) teams for the provision of high-quality case management, patient education and  counselling (PEC) and patient support to stay engaged in care and achieve positive treatment outcomes.
The position will work closely with facility and community-based staff and partners and will collaborate  closely with the TB Specialist: Public Health and the wider Burnet team in Daru.

Reporting and Supervision:
For clinical and program activity support this position will report directly to the TB Specialist – Public Health. For day-to-day operational and administrative support, the incumbent will work directly with other TB  Nursing Officer/s and the public health team.
Responsibility Areas
The key responsibility areas (KRAs) are the major outputs for which the position is responsible and are not a comprehensive statement of the position activities.
The role will be embedded within the RID-TB program and based on Daru Island, Western Province. 

How to apply 
Job description is attached below. Submit applications to: [email protected]

job_descriptioin.pdf
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