Information and application via www.kncvtbc.org/vacancies
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV) is one of the leading international non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. We are an international center of expertise for TB control that stimulates effective, efficient and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national and international context. We are an organization of passionate TB professionals, including medical doctors, researchers, training experts, nurses and epidemiologists.
Over the past century, we have built a wealth of knowledge and expertise, initially by successfully driving back TB in the Netherlands, and subsequently by partnering in the fight against TB in over 40 countries worldwide.
We operate from a central office in The Hague in the Netherlands and additional country offices worldwide. KNCV raises funds from individual, institutional and corporate donors. In Ethiopia, KNCV has more than 13 years of experience in comprehensive TB program support of the national program.
Background
Ongoing transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a major obstacle to the United Nations (UN) End-TB strategy. To reach targets of 90% reduction in tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality by 2035, implementation of new and improved diagnostic and treatment approaches are urgently warranted. This study will adopt a Triage-and-Treat approach using novel TB diagnostic technologies to guide implementation of short, all-oral regimens for DR-TB.
The TriAD study is a multi-center, multi-country Prospective Pragmatic Cohort study assessing the effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of implementing the GeneXpert MTB/XDR (Xpert XDR; Cepheid) assay for rapid triage-and-treatment of DR-TB. The proposed study aims to screen approximately 4800 GeneXpert MTB/RIF or Ultra positive (irrespective of rifampicin resistance status) patients from 9 study sites in South Africa (2), Nigeria (2) and Ethiopia (5) to enroll 880 rifampicin-resistant (RR, cohort 1) and 400 isoniazid-resistant (HR, cohort 2) patients. The Xpert XDR assay that tests for resistance to isoniazid, fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable agents, will be implemented as a reflex test to provide rapid genotypic susceptibility testing for DR-TB detection and its result will be used for selection of appropriate, evidence-based all-oral DR-TB treatment regimens of shortest possible duration. In parallel, the molecular bacterial load assay will be used to provide bacillary load monitoring over the course of treatment to assess real-time treatment response.
Outcome data among patients enrolled in Cohort 1 of this study will be compared to historic outcome data of similar DR-TB patients diagnosed and managed at study sites 12-18 months before the proposed prospective study. Diagnostic data of Xpert XDR assay screening for HR, pre-XDR and XDR will inform optimal placement of Xpert XDR within the current DR-TB diagnostic algorithm. Furthermore, operational and cost-effectiveness research generated in this study will be used to inform policies and guidelines for programmatic implementation of the triage-and-treat model.
Purpose of the position and organizational position
In Ethiopia, five DR-TB treatment initiation centers (TICs) will need to enroll approximately 220 patients for cohort 1 and 100 patients for cohort 2 over the course of 18 months for the main study. For these patients, baseline and follow-up data will be collected (demographic information, detailed information about all assessments done at baseline, clinical response to treatment, as well as any treatment changes, adverse events, etc.). Additional data will be collected for cost-effectiveness and feasibility and acceptability side studies.
In Ethiopia, this project is carried out by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), supported by KNCV.
As a Project Coordinator, you are expected to:
The Project Coordinator works closely with the TRiAD country team (KNCV and EPHI), the focal person for TriAD at EPHI with clinical staff in the five centers enrolling patients for this study and the data management unit of EPHI.
Place in the organization
The Project Coordinator reports hierarchically to the KNCV Country representative and EPHI; functionally to the TriAD study team at HQ.
What does KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation offer?
As Project Coordinator you will:
Qualifications and experience