The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) is an International Partnership that provides grants to lower income countries with high HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis disease burden including Uganda. The Fund also supports health service delivery through grants that are dedicated to health and community systems strengthening. These resources are additional to and not a replacement for financing to the health sector from recipient Governments. Recipient Countries are required to demonstrate transparency, traceability, attribution and efficient accountability of the resources.
Uganda under the Ministry of Health (MoH) has received funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) under the 2021-2023 NFM3 grant. Part of this grant is to source for eligible talent to cover human resources gaps in the Ministry of Health in order to strengthen its capacity. Ministry of Health therefore is advertising to recruit competent persons to fill the following posts under the grant based at the MoH headquarters whose job description and person specifications indicated below. The incumbents will be offered contracts that will be renewable based on satisfactory performance.

Data Scientists (2)
No. Requirements
Reporting arrangements
Assistant Commissioner – Health Information Division

Justification
Growth in big data and its potential impact on the healthcare industry have driven the need for more data scientists. In the Uganda health care setting, big data can be used to improve care quality, increase efficiency, lower costs, and drive innovation. The ideal candidate is adept at using large data sets to find opportunities for product and process optimization and using models to test the effectiveness of different courses of action. They must have strong experience using a variety of data mining/data analysis methods, using a variety of data tools, building and implementing models, using/creating algorithms and creating/running simulations. They must have a proven ability to drive health results with their data-based insights. They must be comfortable working with a wide range of stakeholders and functional teams. The right candidate will have a passion for discovering solutions hidden in large data sets and working with stakeholders to improve health outcomes.

Responsibilities
• Help strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health and its partners, particularly in data management, data visualization, and analytic methods.
• Work with developers and health experts to build decision support tools and dashboards that will employ new information to improve healthcare outcomes.
• Employ user-centered design principles to collect requirements and develop custom visualizations for a target audience (e.g., decision support tools for VHTs)
• Employ novel methods of network analysis to segment populations and triangulate disparate data sources to improve community health outcomes.
• On occasion, participate in relevant technical working groups and assist with preparing technical materials and/or proposals.
• Support other activities and tasks, as requested.

Minimum qualifications and experience
• 5-7 years of experience manipulating data sets and building statistical models, has a Master’s in Health Informatics, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or another quantitative field, and is familiar with the following software/tools:
• Proven experience as a Data Scientist or Data Analyst
• Experience in data mining
• Understanding of machine-learning and operations research
• Knowledge of R, SQL and Python; familiarity with Scala, Java or C++ is an asset
• Experience using business intelligence tools (e.g. Tableau, PowerBI, Qlik) and data frameworks (e.g. Hadoop)

Other competencies
• Analytical mind and business acumen
• Problem-solving aptitude
• Excellent communication and presentation skills