• CissdBihar Zone

• 
  
  Required Experience
  NA
  
  Posted On
  03 Mar 2023

Basic Section

Band
Junior Management
Grade
G
Designation
Entomological Surveillance Officer
Employment Type
-

Organisational

Company
CISSD
Business Unit
SPU-2
Function
BTSP
Sub Function
Program Implementation
Cost Center
VL III
Country
India
Zone
Bihar Zone
State
Bihar
Working Location
Gopalganj
Sub Unit
BR

Skills
Skill
Minimum Qualification
M.SC - MASTER OF SCIENCE
CERTIFICATION No data available
Working Language No data available



Position
Entomological Surveillance Officer

Grade/Level
G

Project/Unit
VL Phase III

Reports to
MLE-specialist-Entomology and other VL processes

Location
District headquarters of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal

Project Duration
30th September 2024

Project Background

A Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC) was signed between Government of Bihar (GoB) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in 2010, based on which BMGF agreed to provide technical support and assistance to GoB to improve Health and Nutrition outcomes across the State. As part of this MoC, a Technical Support Unit (TSU) was established in 2013 with CARE India as the lead development partner. The Bihar TSU aimed to support the Health and Social Welfare (ICDS) Departments of the GoB in their endeavour to achieve rapid and sustainable change in health and nutrition. The TSU targeting providing specific technical support on Government of Indias (GoI) RMNCHA+A campaign, GoBs Manav Vikas Mission Goals and Kala-Azar (VL) elimination goals across the State. The support to the VL elimination program extends beyond Bihar to Jharkhand and potentially to other states as well.
"In the next phase of, TSU will target people within the system with range of different types of intervention, to shape leadership and governance, build technical/managerial/data skills, co-design tools, processes, pilots with them, hardwire research into the core decision making processes, use measurement increasingly as a mirror and learning intervention, and draw on the wealth of experience accumulating with the team on the ground to inform policy making and strategy design." As a part of the agreement between GoB and BMGF, Bihar TSU has established District Resource Unit (DRU) in all the districts to provide technical support at district level. The DRU would function as a Platform to enable structured delivering of program intervention and ensure that there is alignment with government priorities. Concurrent Measurement and Learning Unit (CML) under TSU, designs and puts in place processes to generate and analyse outcome and process data on community and facility level services at scale. Along with Reproductive Health, Maternal, New born and Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, the CML cell will also focus on generation and sharing of data related to Kala Azar / VL (Visceral Leishmaniasis). CML Unit also plays a critical role in the capacity building of program team and Government counterparts on data driven decision making.

Job Summary
Entomological Surveillance Officer will work under the supervision of MLE-specialist-Entomology and VL. S/he will be involved in the overall management & functioning of the entomology lab, supervise and coordinate sand-fly collection, identification, dissection of female sand fly, conducting susceptibility test activities with a report preparation across districts of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. S/he will supervise Insect collectors at the district level. S/he will ensure monitoring of Kala-Azar elimination programs along with technical support from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

Contract/Key Relationships

Entomological Surveillance Officer will report to MLE-specialist-Entomology and other VL processes. S/he will collaborate with the entire VL field teams and other Entomology team. S/he will work closely with the CML team and program team. S/he will supervise the Insect Collectors at the district level.

Key Responsibilities

• 
  Overall responsibility of the Entomology lab of their respective region.
• Prepare the monthly action plan of Insect Collectors and make changes as per the guidance of senior management
• Supervise installation of light traps at pre-identified villages of the district
• Supervising insect collectors in sorting, processing, morphological identification and age determination of sample sand fly.
• Supervising conduction of vector susceptibility tests.
• Maintain records of vector population dynamics, vector behaviour and Vector abundance studies.
• Prepare a monthly technical report and submit the same to reporting Manager.
• Maintenance of the Asset register of Entomological lab.
• Any other duty assigned by supervisors (technical and administrative)

Qualification & Experience

Essential:

• 
  Academic qualification: M. Sc Zoology or M. Sc Agriculture Entomology or M- Tech Biotechnology from reputed Institute / University.

Preferable:

• Knowledge of Diptera (the specific order of sand flies) being a special paper for M.Sc Life Science students.
• Prior experience of insect dissection and entomological lab management work or work related to sand fly & Kala-azar.
• Familiarity with VL programs and data
• Research experience in any medical / public health field

Skills & Competencies

• 
  Good articulation skill.
• High learning agility.
• Aspirants must be very dedicated, committed, hardworking, honest and able to work with minimal supervision.
• Proficiency in MS Office Software package and internet use: knowledge of website management and/or desktop publishing software.
• Familiarity with any analytical software such as Epi-info, SPSS, SAS, Stata will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to objectively analyse Lab/public health program data and describe patterns will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated numerical data visualization skills.
• Demonstrated scientific writing skills.
• Willing to travel for field activities according to the requirement (40%).