Clinical Advisor at Ifakara Health Institute, Pwani April 2026

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in the design, implementation and monitoring of maternal and newborn care interventions.
• Co-lead updating and harmonisation of tools and training materials in collaboration with MOH, PMO- RALG, professional associations, and other implementing partners.
• Lead technical mentoring strategies on essential newborn care, inpatient neonatal care and continuity of care interventions supported by the program.
• Support national guideline updates and TWG engagement.
• Work closely with MoH, PMO-RALG, other partners and national mentors to ensure fidelity to evidence-based newborn care practices.
• Support the Program leadership in collaborating with MoH, PO-RALG, and other implementing partners in co-design program strategies, workplans, and implementation models.
• Provide hands-on technical input to implementing partners on service delivery models, clinical protocols, referral systems, and quality improvement (QI) approaches.
• Contribute to site selection, facility readiness assessment, and phased scale-up of newborn care interventions.
• Lead efforts to strengthen quality of care, including supportive supervision, mentorship, and clinical audits (e.g. perinatal death reviews, neonatal case reviews).
• Support integration of quality improvement collaboratives and learning platforms across facilities and regions.
• Advice on strengthening clinical governance, accountability and patient safety mechanisms.
• Guide the design and implementation of capacity building strategies for health workers (pre-service, in-service, mentorship, and CPD).
• Work with professional associations and training institutions to support competence-based training for neonatal care.
• Promote task sharing and team-based models where appropriate.
• Provide technical oversight on clinical indicators, dashboards, and learning questions related to maternal and newborn health outcomes.
• Support the use of routine health information systems (e.g. MTUHA, Afya-eHMIS, GOT-HOMIS and DHIS2) and facility data for clinical decision-making and program improvement.
• Contribute to learning agendas, operational research, and documentation of best practices.
• Support policy dialogues, technical working groups, and national reviews related to newborn health.
• Represent the program in national and subnational forums as delegated by the Program leadership.
• Advice on strategies for institutionalising and sustaining program interventions within government systems.
• Support the development of scale-up pathways and investment cases for effective newborn health interventions.

Desired Skills

• Strong understanding of global and national maternal, newborn and child health policies, guidelines, and service delivery models.
• Ability to translate clinical evidence into practical, scalable programme interventions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience using routine data for improvement.
• Presentation skills.

Essential Qualifications

• Medical degree (MD or equivalent)
• Specialisation in paediatrics and child health (MMed paediatrics, neonatology or equivalent).
• Registered with the Tanzania Medical Council (or eligibility)

Required Experience

• Minimum 3-5 years of clinical experience in specialised paediatrics and/or newborn care.
• Demonstrated experience supporting large-scale MNH programs in LMICs settings, preferably in Tanzania.
• Experience working with or advising government health systems at national and subnational levels.
• Familiarity with quality improvement, clinical mentorship, and health workforce strengthening approaches.

Preferred Language

• Excellent stakeholder engagement, communication, and coordination skills.