Senior Technical Child Health Advisor (DOS LEAP Global) Nigeria

ZemiTek LLC is a Woman-Owned SBA-certified 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) based in the Washington DC metro area. We have a strong record delivering innovative and high-quality solutions. Since 2007 ZemiTek has provided technical assistance project management information technology (IT) knowledge management monitoring and evaluation training and learning development and institutional support services.

LEAP Program Description

Global Solutions Ventures (GSV) a joint-venture partnership between ZemiTek LLC and Dexis Consulting Group is implementing the Long-term Exceptional Technical Assistance Project (LEAP Global) a mechanism originally used by USAID to battle against infectious diseases such as malaria HIV/AIDS tuberculosis neglected tropical diseases and pandemic influenza. As of July 1 2025 LEAP Global transitioned to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This initiative aims to address the complex human resource challenges faced by national infectious disease programs in the USA-supported countries.

The intervention of this project is to hire and embed technical expert advisors and subject matter experts within government entities. By directly embedding the technical expertise within the national programs LEAP provides long-term sustainable lifesaving support to empower host governments to lead and manage key aspects of their infectious disease portfolios and improve coordination between the U.S. Government and the host country.

About the Position

The world has witnessed an extraordinary 70 percent decline in child mortality over the last 50 years and a reduction in the burden of child deaths from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 5.2 million in 2019. Maternal deaths are also falling and declines in maternal mortality are currently averaging five percent per year. The COVID-19 pandemic however widened immunity gaps and despite global efforts to improve vaccination coverage the number of zero-dose and under-immunized children has increased in Africa particularly in Nigeria which has over 2.1 million unvaccinated (zero dose) children the highest in the continent while the total number of under-immunized children is around 8.7 million. These children are highly susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases increasing risks of death and illness. Significant work remains to increase coverage of high-impact interventions strengthen the health systems that support these interventions and address bottlenecks to ending preventable child and maternal deaths. Nigeria needs also to maintain data on their achievements as this will help identify gaps that need to be addressed in the immunization program.

The Senior Technical Child Health Advisor will support the Nigeria Ministry of Health; national primary health care development agency and the Department of state in carrying out life-saving humanitarian assistance (LHA) in full alignment with the new Presidential Executive Order (EO) directives. The primary focus of the Advisor will be technical leadership to ensure the successful implementation of cost-effective lifesaving direct service delivery for contributing to improved child health outcomes.

The Senior Child Health Advisor will provide strategic technical and managerial leadership contributing to improved child health and primary health outcomes in Nigeria. The position will focus on strengthening systems and services that address major causes of childhood morbidity and mortality including malaria pneumonia diarrhea and vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) as well as emerging issues. The Advisor will serve as an in-house subject matter leader on maternal child health and primary health care integration as a subset of an integrated health approach and serve as a liaison for the Department of State and USG in policy strategic and technical engagements with the host-country Ministry of Health (MOH) National Primary Health Care Development Agency ( NPHCDA) amongst others U.S. Government (USG) interagency international and bilateral organizations and donor agencies to address technical issues and coordinate efforts in implementation of integrated maternal child health activities.

The Advisor will oversee design implementation monitoring and continuous improvement of interventions in child nutrition routine immunization (RI) and polio eradication working closely with government counterparts donors and implementing partners to advance national and sub-national health goals. Work may include serving as a Program/Project Manager for significant and targeted interventions providing technical assistance to the appropriate host-country Ministry in the development of host-country policies design and implementation plans.

Program Planning and Implementation: NPHCDA and DOS

Strategic Leadership & Technical Guidance

• Provide overall technical direction for child health programming with emphasis on childhood immunization nutrition and childhood diseases management (not limited to malaria pneumonia and diarrhea).
• Guide evidence-based strategies to reduce under-five morbidity and mortality and ensure alignment with national child health policies and global standards (WHO UNICEF Gavi).
• Shape program design by developing performance frameworks and budgets that prioritize life-saving Maternal Child Nutrition Health services.

Routine Immunization & Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPDs)

• Oversee the design and implementation of strategies to strengthen RI programs at national state and community levels.
• Monitor immunization coverage equity and quality; identify and address bottlenecks in vaccine delivery and uptake.
• Provide technical leadership in the introduction and scale-up of new vaccines.
• Collaborate with government and partners to improve cold chain supply chain and vaccine logistics systems.

Polio Eradication Efforts

• Support surveillance outbreak detection and rapid response to polio and other VPDs.
• Provide technical oversight of supplemental immunization campaigns ensuring quality timeliness and reach to underserved populations.
• Strengthen community engagement and demand generation strategies to improve acceptance of polio and RI vaccines.
• Liaise with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) WHO UNICEF and partners to ensure alignment with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Childhood Disease Management & Nutrition

• Lead strategies for prevention diagnosis and treatment of major childhood illnesses (malaria pneumonia diarrhea) through integrated service delivery.
• Promote scale-up of Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) and facility-based child health services.
• Support implementation of nutrition interventions including Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) vitamin A supplementation and management of acute malnutrition.
• Keep abreast of disease outbreaks and support national efforts at preventing and mitigation against the effects of such.

Monitoring Evaluation & Learning (MEL)

• Oversee collection analysis and use of data to drive decision-making and continuous improvement in child health outcomes.
• Monitor key performance indicators for immunization nutrition and child diseases and outbreaks management and reporting.
• Facilitate routine reviews including service delivery processes program reviews and Data Quality Assessments ensuring evidence-based adjustments to strategies and operational plans.
• Collaborate with technical advisors and MOH staff to document institutionalize and scale up quality best practices lessons learned and innovations in child health programming.

Support to the Department of State (DoS) Health Assistance Office

• Provide technical oversight of the MNCH portfolio ensuring alignment with U.S. government global health strategy and Nigerias National MNCH and Primary Health Care Programmatic strategies.
• Guide evidence-based strategies to reduce under-five morbidity and mortality and ensure alignment with national child health policies and global standards (WHO UNICEF Gavi).
• Shape program design by developing performance frameworks and budgets that prioritize life-saving child health services.
• Review implementing partners workplans and progress reports to ensure compliance with program designs and strategies optimize service delivery and results-based management to enhance decision-making.
• Produce high-quality documentation including briefing notes portfolio summaries and technical reports to synthesize progress highlight achievements and outline challenges with actionable recommendations.
• Serve as liaison for DOS to strengthen efficiency and expand the capacity of Nigerias health systems (governance coordination logistics and data use) to improve and deliver sustainable health systems improvements for comprehensive and integrated maternal and child health.

Capacity Building & Partnership Management

• Strengthen national state and local health systems to deliver sustainable high-quality child health services.
• Provide capacity building and mentorship to health workers program staff and local partners on child health and immunization best practices.
• Facilitate collaboration among government (NPHCDA SPHCDA) NGOs CSOs private sector and development partners (UNICEF WHO USG) to harmonize programming and strengthen collaboration for child health priorities.
• Participate in interagency domestic and global meetings consultations working groups and negotiations related to routine immunization Polio and VPDs technical assistance.

Deliverables :

1. Meeting Reports: Submit detailed reports from key meetings with MOH interagency groups technical working groups (TWGs) donors and implementing partners. Reports should include actionable recommendations and follow-up plans.
2. Monthly Performance Reports: Deliver comprehensive monthly reports summarizing program achievements challenges and data-driven recommendations for improvement. Include quantitative metrics such as the number of patients reached interventions scaled or quality improvement initiatives implemented.
3. Technical Guidance Documents: Develop and submit at least three technical guidance documents or policy briefs per quarter addressing critical gaps or emerging issues in Maternal Child Health programming such as:
1. Child Health Strategy Document describes how relevant USG activities align towards common goal(s)
2. Immunization Strengthening Plans (state and LGAS)
3. Integrated Service Delivery Models/Frameworks (facility iCCM) for childhood disease management and nutrition
4. Partnership Engagement Reports (tracking collaboration and resource leverage).
5. Stakeholder Coordination Meeting Notes (joint action points).
6. Advocacy Briefs for policymakers and donors.
7. Donor & Government Reports (as per funding requirements).
8. Sustainability/Transition Plans (for government ownership).
4. Knowledge Sharing Outputs: Document and disseminate at least five best practices innovations or effective models annually to enhance program impact and inform stakeholders.
5. Weekly/Monthly Updates:Deliver comprehensive monthly reports summarizing program achievements challenges and data-driven recommendations for improvement. Include quantitative metrics such as the number of patients reached interventions scaled or quality improvement initiatives implemented.

REPORTING:

The Senior Technical Child Health Advisor will provide a detailed monthly report to the U.S. Department of State submitted by the 5th day of the following month. The format for reporting may be adjusted with concurrence from the COR.

SUPERVISION:

In addition to your LEAP Global supervisors and POCs Senior Technical Child Health Advisor will report to the Health Assistance Coordinator and his/her designee and has no formal supervisory responsibility. Incumbents may also have an onsite manager/supervisor with the coordinating GON ministry department and or agency who will provide day to day direction defined in the roles and responsibilities above.

• Masters degree or local equivalent from an accredited program in Public Health International Development Health Social or Behavioral Sciences Epidemiology Biology Infectious Disease Medicine Pharmacy or immunization
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in child health immunization or public health program management in Nigeria or similar contexts.
• Demonstrated expertise in immunization nutrition childhood disease management and/or polio eradication.
• Minimum 3 years direct experience managing or advising routine immunization programs.
• Proven leadership in designing implementing and evaluating child health programs at scale.
• Strong experience engaging with government agencies donors and international partners.
• Knowledge of disease control initiatives.
• Excellent leadership communication and team management skills.
• Prior experience working in Nigeria is an advantage
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work in a cross-cultural work environment.
• Excellent written and oral communication in English.
• Excellent written and oral communication
• Good computer skills including familiarity with Microsoft Office programs.
• Excellent organizational planning negotiating and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written communication skills are required to prepare regular and ad hoc reports activity documentation and briefing papers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with US government and or other donor funded ( UNICEF etc) projects is an advantage.
• Knowledge of local culture is a plus
• Experience with US government -funded public health programs.
• Relevant technical experience obtained in Nigeria and or other West African countries is preferred.

ZemiTekis committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment ZemiTek will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application interviewing completing any pre-employment testing or otherwise participating in the employee selection process please direct your inquiries to.