CONTEXT

Bending the Curve of Hepatitis C: In line with the Global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis 2016-2021, the federal government of Pakistan has adopted the National Hepatitis Strategic Framework for Pakistan (2017-2021). The goal is to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030. “Bending the Curve” is a 3-year systematic approach to rapidly scale up screening, testing and treatment of Hepatitis C patients and harm reduction activities in Machar Colony, to reduce the prevalence of Hepatitis C infections in Machar Colony. The authors hypothesize that using community-based testing, community outreach and linkage to care will bring down incidence and prevalence at population level. The intervention leverages on the expertise of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Indus Health Network (IHN) and Interactive Research Development (IRD) and will be documented through operational research for advocacy. As such, the Bending the Curve intervention could serve as a model for scale up of screening, diagnosis and treatment to reach the 2030 targets.

Estimated timelines and deliverables:
• Sept & Oct 2021: developing and ERB-submission ready Master Protocol for BTC. Nov and Dec 2021: submission of master protocol to MSF ERB and Pakistan NBC and follow up of validation.
• Jan 2022 – Dec 2023: follow up of data collection, data analysis. 2024: publication of the findings of BTC research.

Hepatitis C reinfection study: MSF has been implementing a Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) screening and treatment program in the informal settlement of Machar Colony in Karachi since February 2015. In this pro-gram, patients are tested and treated for chronic HCV infection according to the MSF Hepatitis C guideline, based on the latest WHO Hep C screening and treatment guidelines. After achieving HCV cure, patients may still be prone to reinfection as they remain in the community, where ongoing high HCV transmission remains prevalent. HCV reinfection rates usually reflect the incidence rates in the community or/and in the specific risk group to which the patient belongs. Moreover, understanding the reinfection rates and their distribution in the community or risk groups could provide further insight and information to plan better potential preventive interventions in the affected communities. The authors hypothesize that the evidence generated through the analysis of this study will provide relevant information that would help in planning and development of simplified approaches to HCV prevention and treatment interventions in Pakistan. It will allow a thorough assessment of the factors responsible for ongoing transmission in the community that could promote knowledge transfer and improve the population health in the local regions sustainably.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

Epidemiologist Operational Research (OR) is the study coordinator, who implements and supervises the epidemiological research in Machar Colony, Karachi project, according to MSF protocols, standards and procedures for two studies.

More info? See the complete job description on our website: https://www.msf-azg.be/en/job/epidemiologist-operational-research-karachi-project-pakistan