Entrepreneurship in the territories: is it the right time?
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization created in 1971 that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters. MSF is one of the largest independent medical humanitarian organizations in the world, with projects located in 65 countries worldwide. Its work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics; the goal of MSF is to provide emergency care and to offer assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. The French section is present in around thirty countries.
The Women’s Health Unit in OCP Medical Department is looking for Mobile Implementing Officer (MIO) Women’s Health as soon as possible.
Mission
Contexts
The MSF POLICY FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE states that:
- MSF guides actions according to the potential impact on maternal and newborn mortality and suffering by responding to specific reproductive health needs,
- All MSF projects should be prepared to offer medical care to victims of sexual violence (SV), independently of or as a complement to reproductive health care activities,
- MSF will respond to girls’ and women’s needs for a termination of their pregnancies by providing Safe Abortion Care (SAC); SAC is part of the organization’s actions that are aimed at reducing maternal mortality, morbidity and suffering resulting from unsafe abortions.
Our projects work under tremendous pressure to improve the quality of care women, girls, newborns, and survivors receive. They face clinical challenges when healthcare needs are competing or when more life-saving priorities take precedence. Therefore, the challenges of offering SRH & SV care can seem overwhelming, especially if our staff have little or no experience in implementing and integrating specific elements of sexual-reproductive healthcare like Contraception, SV and SAC into their activities. The perception, awareness and acceptance of these essential services within the communities we care for is often the biggest obstacle to overcome.
Main responsibilities
Specific key subjects to manage
- Implementation of services that may include all or part of these services:
- Antenatal consultations
- Postnatal consultations
- STis care (including PMTCT)
- Contraception
- Safe abortion care
- Sexual violence care
- Normal and complicated deliveries
- Other services as per the project needs, e.g. menstrual hygiene, fistula, FGM etc.
These activities will be implemented depending on the project and its context.
Overall Objectives of the MIO
- Follow MSF strategic plans and women’s health roadmap 2024-2026
- Follow MSF guidelines, policies and procedures
- Integrate the patient-centred approach in all women’s health activities. A respectful maternity care package will be soon available for implementation.
- Assess women’s health activities in the projects, identify the gaps, and prioritize the needs in collaboration with the project team and the women’s health and sexual violence advisors. The activities could be entitled for example the activities listed below:
- Map partners around MSF projects to integrate other components of women’s health (medical, psychological, social, legal.)
- Map internal and external partnerships to ensure a holistic approach to women’s health activities (newborn care, mental health, nutrition, vaccination services, social services, legal services, etc.)
- Assess and ensure human resources can perform safely their duties: trained, supervised, equipped, managed correctly
- Assess and ensure women’s health activities are performed with necessary and sufficient hygiene and security (bed spacing, IPC measures, etc.)
- Understand the medico-legal constraints on women’s health activities in the project. In collaboration with the legal department and the women’s health referents, provide clear guidance to the project team on how to mitigate the potential risks
- Assess and ensure that women’s health activities are registered correctly in the dedicated data collection platforms (PRAXIS, DHIS).
Extended Objectives of the MIO
- Contribute to the project through their experience and proximity to the projects, which are elements for revising guidelines, policies, and procedures.
- Represents MSF within and outside the organisation to foster networking between OCs and external stakeholders. For example, being involved in forums to share experiences and to discuss Women’s Health activities in the movement
- Participate in meetings with the intersectional SRH WG.
Collaboration, Communication and Reporting Line
- The project, coordination, the respective Cell, and the women’s health advisor supporting the mission will decide on the MIO's placements.
- Regular communication will be done with the women’s health Advisors supporting the project/mission
- Assignments to the projects will be short-term with specific Terms of Reference for each project
- The MIO will work closely with other medical advisors such as Pediatricians, Health Promotion, Mental Health, IPC, vaccination, etc. and operational advisors (medico-legal, hospital management, etc.) for practical implementation of women’s health activities and ensure their work is relevant to the needs and transparent
- The MIO will deliver an activity report within two weeks of return from the field covering the context, Assessment of the situation, activities implemented and reinforced and recommendations for follow-up
