Research Officer

**VACANCY**

**JOB TITLE**: Research Officer

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Location: Ho Chi Minh City
Employment Type: Fulltime (100% FTE)
Duration: 01 year (extension to be based on performance and availability of funds)
Travel requirements: Frequent travel to districts within Ho Chi Minh City

**BACKGROUND**:
This position will work for community programs of two sister-organizations who have registration in Viet Nam: IRD VN and Friends for International TB Relief (FIT).

**IRD VN** is a locally registered social enterprise with the mission of improving public health by alleviating the societal and individual burden caused by infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. IRD VN works on the endTB and endTB-Q projects which have introduced and evaluated delamanid

**FIT VN** is a registered non-profit organization working in the field of tuberculosis (TB) prevention and care, service delivery, research, technical assistance and advocacy. FIT is a young, dynamic and growing organization. FIT now has office-based staff working across five cities in Viet Nam. We work in close collaboration with Provincial and National TB Programs and other in-country partners to implement projects funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, the Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNITAID and Johnson & Johnson. We have also had multiple active research partnerships, including with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation in the Netherlands, and Ceres Nanosciences and SureAdhere Mobile Technology in the United States. FIT staff have supported the implementation of other TB programs in South and Southeast Asia and represented Viet Nam at multiple regional and international forums on TB technical assistance. Finally, FIT was chosen to represent civil society organizations from Viet Nam at regional events and at multiple events in the lead up to and during the United Nations High Level Meeting on TB in New York City.

In collaboration with the National TB Control Program (NTP), FIT is helping to build a comprehensive Search-Treat-Prevent TB program across five cities in Viet Nam (Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Hoi An, Can Tho) and several island and remote communities. In the short term, we are aiming to 1) increase TB detection and treatment in key populations, such as household contacts, children and people visiting private healthcare providers; 2) provide social support and adherence monitoring options to improve TB treatment outcomes; and 3) scale up TB infection screening and treatment services. We hope these efforts will lead to declines in Viet Nam’s TB burden over the medium and long term.

**JOB RESPONSIBILITIES**:
**Main activities**
- Engage with relevant stakeholders at the Community level, study participants and contacts.
- Solicit support from local stakeholders to recruit and train community health workers (CHW) in the wards in which study participants reside for treatment support throughout the course of the study.
- Obtain weekly Xpert results for all machines placed at District TB Units.
- Conduct pre-screening (and contact investigation, if convenient) for all patients with a rifampicin-resistance result on Xpert.
- Follow-up and manage the screening activity for all patients with a rifampicin-resistance result on Xpert.
- Monitor pre-/screening, testing procedures and referral of TB patients from district TB Unit to Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital.
- Follow-up with TB officers to ensure that all persons eligible for Xpert will be tested at the District TB Units with Xpert capacity diligently.
- Follow-up with participants, commune TB officers, District TB Unit and province-level staff on the status of referrals of potential participants.
- Coordinate with commune health station TB officers and community members to provide contact investigation and adherence support.
- Ensure the provision of treatment support consisting of people follow-up via in-person visit or phone of at least once a week.
- Monitor trial participants interactions to ensure that they are followed up daily by Community Health Workers
- Support treatment follow-up and missed doses should be notified within 24 hours to DTU study, DOT staff and site coordinator.
- Work with Community Health Workers to conduct household visits for all the study participants to provide adherence counseling, contact tracing and observe evening doses on days off.
- Collaborate with Community Health Workers, TB officers and DTU on case management for each participant managed for the entire duration of treatment.
- Support and monitor the administration of evening doses as per protocol.
- Enter all the study data into the data management software systems.
- Weekly and monthly report as required.
- Support other work as required by the study and site coordinator.

**Other tasks**
- Submit at least weekly reports to manager.
- Participate in wee