HIV Testing Services Officer

The HIV Testing Service (HTS) and Linkage officer serves as the primary technical contact person for the project’s HIV testing and linkage services at supported councils and sites to ensure all facility-based HTS activities, including index testing, O-PITC, Social Network Testing, HIVST, and linkage case management, are implemented at the acceptable service delivery standards in the specific districts and supported facilities. He/she will engage and work closely with providers in facility and community settings, including collaborating with CHMT, Facility in-charges, HTS focal persons, and other stakeholders, with technical advice and guidance from the project HTS Advisor. He/She will report directly to the Regional Program Manager on administrative matters and to the HTS advisor on technical matters related to guardiancy.

• To support the development of weekly, monthly, and quarterly work plans for the implementation of HTS and Positive identification strategies at the district level
• To support R/CHMTs in planning, implementation, and evaluation of HTS activities in the supported councils and health facilities
• To ensure the Provider-initiated HIV Testing and Counselling is offered at all service points (inpatient, outpatient, MNCH, TB clinics, STI clinics, and NCD clinics) at project-supported health facilities
• To support implementation of high-yielding HTS strategies, including index testing, Social Network Testing, HIV self-testing, and O-PITC services to all supported sites
• Support project-supported sites in the implementation of strategies to identify unreached HIV positive clients from key and vulnerable populations; children, male adolescent girls, and young women at the facility level
• To provide on-the-job training, off-site orientation, dissemination of guidelines and standards, and scale best practices to the project-supported councils and facilities
• To strengthen the site's capacity in implementing HTS strategies and linkage case management for newly diagnosed HIV positive
• To support project initiatives in ensuring safety and ethical HTS/LCM services by adherence to set standards and procedures
• Provide other technical support for HTS activities, monitoring, reporting, evaluation, and documentation promptly
• Provide technical leadership in the implementation of high-yield HTS and Linkage Case management strategies
• Ensure adequate supplies of commodities (HIV rapid test kits, condoms) and other materials, including tools and relevant Guidelines and SOPs, at the project-supported sites
• In collaboration with team leads and other program staff, follow up with R/CHMT’s to ensure that project activities are well coordinated at the project-supported sites and all financial obligations are met on time
• To liaise with other project staff to ensure successful linkage and early retention of HIV POs from community HTS interventions
• Support sites in achieving the first 95 targets by conducting weekly review meetings to assess performances with the development of action plans
• To support sites in ensuring that internal and external quality assurance activities for HIV testing are conducted, results documented, and actions developed to address identified gaps in collaboration with the laboratory team
• Assist with other programmatic sections (Administration and Finance) as required for the successful implementation of HTS activities at the project-supported health facilities
• Work with CHMT and RHMT to ensure successful transference of mentorship, technical support, and support supervision to HTS providers at selected health facilities.