Medical Doctor at Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA)

The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) is an independent humanitarian medical NGO that was created in 2009 by professionals of humanitarian medicine. ALIMA’s mission is to provide medical care in emergency situations or medical catastrophes.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Medical Doctor

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Project: MMC Project Maiduguri

Alima’s Spirit

• ALIMA’s purpose is to save lives and provide care for the most vulnerable populations, without any discrimination based on identity, religion or politics, through actions based on proximity, innovation, and the alliance of organizations and individuals. We act with humanity and impartiality in accordance with universal medical ethics.
• To gain access to patients, we undertake to act in a neutral and independent manner.

Principles of Actions
Our Chartered defines the values and principles of our action:

• Putting the Patient First
• Revolutionizing humanitarian medicine
• Responsibility and freedom
• Improve the quality of our actions
• Placing trust
• Collective intelligence
• ALIMA promotes and defends the principles of fundamental human rights. ALIMA has a zero-tolerance approach towards those guilty of acts of gender and sexual violence as well as towards inaction in the face of alleged or proven acts of violence. The protection of those benefiting from and impacted by our intervention is our top priority in everything we do. Everyone collaborating with ALIMA is committed to:
• Respect the charter, the code of conduct, the institutional policies including the policy of protection against abuse of power and sexist and sexual violence, the policy of prevention of corruption and fraud;

Caring and Innovation Together

• Since its creation in 2009, ALIMA has treated more than 4 million patients and today deploys its operations in 11 African countries. In 2018 we developed 41 humanitarian medical response projects to meet the needs of populations affected by conflicts, epidemics and extreme poverty. All of these projects are carried out in support to national authorities through nearly 330 health facilities (including 28 hospitals and 300 health facilities).
• Whenever possible We work in partnership with local NGO’s to ensure that our patients benefit from the best and most relevant expertise wherever it is, whether within their own country or in the rest of the world. In addition, to improve the humanitarian response, we are carrying out operational and clinical research projects particularly in the field of the fight against malnutrition and viral haemorrhagic fevers

Alima’s Team

• more than 2000 people are currently working for ALIMA. The field teams, closest to the patients, receive their support from coordination teams generally based in the countries’ capitals. These receive support from the 4 desk teams and the emergency and opening team based at the operational headquarters in Dakar, Senegal.
• The Paris and New York teams are actively working to raise funds and represent ALIMA. The rest of the ALIMA Galaxy includes individuals and partner teams working on behalf of other organizations such as medical NGOs BEFEN, ALERT Health, SOS Doctors / KEOOGO, AMCP, research organizations PACCI and INSERM, Bordeaux or Copenhagen Universities, the INGO Solidarités International and many others.
• COUNTRIES WHERE WE WORK: Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, South Sudan, Mauritania.
• THE WORK WE DO covers: Malnutrition, Maternal Health, Primary Health, Pediatrics, Malaria, Epidemics (Ebola, Cholera, Measles, Dengue, Lassa Fever), Hospitalization, Emergencies, Gender Based Violence, Opening / Closing.

Alima in Nigeria

• The humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s northeast and the Lake Chad region is one of the most severe ongoing crises in the world, now entering in its ninth year and shows no sign of abating.
• In 2021, at least 8.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in the worst affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. Up to 5.1 million people risk being critically food insecure during the next lean season (June August 2021), a level similar to 2016-2017 when famine was looming over Borno State
• Nigeria is now facing a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Borno, Adamawa, Yobe states have recorded new cases. Aid actors are intensifying actions and prevention measures
• Despite challenges including humanitarian space reduction, aid workers had already provided around 5 million people with life-saving assistance in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in 2020.
• Conflict, explosive remnants of war and insecurity have cut people off from their main means of livelihoods-farming and fishing.
• This causes major food insecurity in north-east Nigeria, which COVID-19’s effects on incomes have exacerbated: despite good crop yields, food insecurity is rising. Findings of the October2020 Cadre Harmonize (CH) analysis projected that about 5.1 million people in the three states will be food-insecure in the lean season between June and August 2021 – a 19% and 34% increase on the 2020 (after COVID-19 June CH Update) and 2019 figures respectively. According to the Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance Round 9, conducted in October 2020, the level of acute malnutrition increased in all the three states compared to 2019. Global acute malnutrition (GAM) rates of 10.7% were recorded in Borno, 7.5% in Adamawa and 13.6% in Yobe.
• According to the survey, several LGAs had high pockets of global acute malnutrition of above the 15% threshold (emergency phase), including Gubio, Magumeri, Mobbar and Bayo in Borno State and all LGAs in northern Yobe. Movement restrictions and insecurity continue to hamper the ability of IDPs, returnees and the host communities to access basic services, livelihoods, and land for farming and grazing. This means that more people will rely on humanitarian aid to survive in 2021.
• In 2017, ALIMA continued to implement projects in Muna Garage in Jere LGA, where ALIMA performs general consultations for children under 5 and provides Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) to pregnant and lactating women (antenatal and postnatal consultations). An Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Program (OTP) is also available for children under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the clinic, where women and caretakers are trained to screen their children for malnutrition using the MUAC tape.
• In Maiduguri MC, where ALIMA is working in partnership with the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Center (ITFC) manages children under 5 suffering from SAM with medical complications in a 50-bed capacity building.
• In December 2020, ALIMA conducted a needs assessment survey in the north of Yobe where a high level of acute malnutrition was recorded by nutrition sector. The results of this survey prompted ALIMA to open a nutrition and health project covering the Kasasuwa LGA, one of the most affected LGAs and where there was a gap. This project started in May 2021 and fund by ECHO aim to support Karasuwa health facilities and improve access to nutrition and health services including pediatrics healthcare and reproductive health.
• ALIMA also support COVID-19 vaccination in Borno and Yobe with focus on most vulnerables.
• In parallel ALIMA is opening an emergency nutrition project in Katsina state and is present is Owo state since 2018 for Lassa fever response and research.

Management Line
Line Manager:

• Medical Reference & Project Coordinator

Line Management:

• Nurses
• Nutritionist
• Assistant Nurse

Main Activities

• The ITFC clinical doctor is responsible for ensuring quality medical care for malnourished children in accordance with the inpatient national Nigerian guideline

Tasks & Responsibilities
Consultations and medical round visits:

• Organizes a medical consultation on admission to the ITFC
• Ensures that triage is carried out according to the patient’s emergency and vulnerability criteria
• Verifies compliance of admission to ITFC
• Refers emergency cases to the inpatient department and reorients non-urgent patients if necessary
• Decides to change phase or exit the child
• Performs a detailed consultation of the patient according to the treatment protocols and notes the observations on the folder record
• Initiates a rational prescription

Hospitalization:
Ensures the daily visits in the service:

• Examines all hospitalized patients
• Indicates and prescribes the care and treatment, respecting the protocols in order to rationalize the use of the drugs
• Maintains up-to-date hospital records by accurately reporting examinations, diagnoses and treatments and ensuring compliance with the prescription
• Constantly score the signs of tuberculosis in children whose clinical condition requires it;
• Requests for para-clinical examinations as required;
• Evaluates the clinical evolution of the patients and decides the phase and the type of milk with the dose to be given;
• Decides on the patient’s discharge according to his or her state of health.
• Works in collaboration with the different doctors and supervises transfers to other services if necessary
• Ensure compliance with transfusion rules in the service (cross-match, tests …)
• Ensures the supervision and the continuing training of the medical / paramedical team in order to optimize the quality of care
• Manages the emergencies and ensures the guards
• Ensure that professional secrecy and free health care are respected
• Participates in the review of morbidity and mortality

Others:

• Participates in medical meetings and service meetings.
• Promotes the exchange of information in its field of activity.
• Participates in the collection and analysis of epidemiological data.
• Ensures the proper functioning of the ITFC activities (triage, references, space
• Ensures compliance with treatment protocols (national protocol) especially medical prescriptions.
• Ensure the rational use of medicines and other medical equipment.
• Ensures that medical confidentiality is maintained and that the patient is properly informed of his or her illness and treatment within the ITFC.
• Works in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team and participates in the continuous training of the staff (techniques of care, updating protocols.
• Implementation of prevention measures against abuse of power, gender-based and sexual violence.
• Ensures that his/her team, partners and community members are aware of ALIMA’s policy and have access to information (complaint escalation mechanism, focal point.
• Facilitates the organization of training and awareness sessions.
• Implements standards related to the prevention of abuse of power, gender-based violence and sexual violence.
• Ensures that team members and partners involved in the project (Ministry of Health, national partners, etc.) follow training and awareness sessions and apply the rules for preventing abuse.
• Contributes to creating and maintaining a nurturing and protective environment for his/her team, community members and project partners.

Qualifications
You meet the following qualifications:
Education:

• Essential Degree in Medicine (Doctor) is mandatory
• Diploma in Tropical medicine, nutrition and paediatrics will be an asset
• Essential 2 years’ experience in tropical medicine, Nutrition and inpatient healthcare setup, pediatrics and or ITFC management experience in conflict or IDPs setup

Required Skills:

• Computer literacy (Word, Excel, outlook).
• Essential 5 years’ experience in relevant jobs, in ALIMA or others Medical NGO’s in developing countries.
• Have at least 3 years’ practice experience in management of Nutrition, Health and Sexual Reproductive Health.
• Have experience of worked in difficult/insecurity area.
• Strategic vision.
• Leadership.
• People Management.
• Planning.
• Teamwork, flexible.
• Knowledge of management of pharmacy.
• Training skills.
• Well organized and good negotiation and communication skill.
• Interest in and commitment to ALIMA’s activities, enthusiasm to represent the organization to others, to travel to different regions of Nigeria.
• Languages: Fluency in English, (written and spoken) is mandatory and Kanuri, Hausa and Fulbe are asset.

Deadline: 10th March, 2022.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Cover Letter, CV with coloured picture and qualifications with contact details all in the same file to: recruitment@nigeria.alima.ngo using the job title as the subject of the mail.

Note

• Applications are processed in the order of arrival and we reserve the right to close the offer before the term initially indicated if a good application is successful. Only full applications will be taken into account. Only accepted applications will be contacted.
• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Important Remarks:

• Only successful applicants will be called for interview.
• No monetary transactions, neither demands of favours in kind, nor other types of favouritism will be tolerated in the recruitment process.
• Report any violation of the policies, framework documents and procedures to a superior, to a referent or to alert@alima.ngo