Surveillance Lead

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems. 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries.

WJCF is an Indian not-for-profit entity, registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act 2013, and has an affiliation agreement with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Our mission is to save lives and improve health outcomes in the country by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. WJCF has partnered with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and state health departments since 2007, providing technical and operational support across key health priorities, including infectious diseases (COVID-19, hepatitis, HIV, TB, vector-borne diseases), non-communicable diseases (cervical cancer, diabetes, sickle cell disease), maternal and child health (anaemia, immunisation, diarrhoea, pneumonia), sexual and reproductive health, health insurance and digital health (AB PM-JAY, ABDM), oxygen and hypoxemia management, safe drinking water, and climate and health.  

Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

The World Health Organization estimated that 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2022 and ~1.3 million succumbed to it. India accounted for the most people suffering from the disease, with 27% of the cases and 26% of mortality. The National TB Elimination Program (NTEP), headed by the Central TB Division (CTD), MoHFW, is an expansive public health program with the ambitious goal of eliminating TB in line with the mandate of the Sustainable Development Goals.

WJCF has been supporting the CTD and state health departments of more than 15 states in the mission to eliminate TB. WJCF’s TB program has been operational since 2012, and its interventions address several program areas, including preventive therapies, case detection, access to diagnostics, engagement of the private sector, and more. It also lends technical support to Governments across a range of themes- strategic planning, data analytics, monitoring and evaluation, patient management and delivery of services.

WJCF’s current portfolio of work spans support includes an evaluation of the TB drugs demand and supply dynamics, a landscape assessment for the next generation of diagnostic methods, a high-powered multi-disciplinary team translating programmatic information into action, and multiple large-scale interventions to determine the best methods for detecting hidden TB in the community.

The Surveillance Lead is the on-ground project lead for Ahmedabad, carrying full accountability for the Urban Disease Surveillance programme. The role is the primary interface between WJCF and government counterparts, principally, the State Surveillance Unit, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Metropolitan Surveillance unit (MSU), District Surveillance unit (DSU), and associated departments. The Surveillance Lead is responsible for ensuring that every government engagement, technical output, and milestone is delivered on time and to standard.

The Surveillance Lead works within and alongside government systems and not parallel to them. The role chairs key meetings, facilitates simulation drills, leads upskilling, and maintains trusted relationships with senior officials throughout the project. Internally, the role manages the Ahmedabad team: the Program Officer, the Analyst, and Ward Surveillance Officers.

The role calls for physician-level clinical insight combined with public health programme management experience. The Surveillance Lead reports to the Associate Director and leads programme design, implementation, donor reporting, and milestone documentation.

Working within existing government systems to strengthen the program.

• →Lead engagement with the State Surveillance Unit, AMC Health Department, District Surveillance Unit, and AMC allied departments (Water and Sanitation, Entomology, Social Development) and coordinate within existing structures.
• →Lead coordination with Smart City Ahmedabad Development Limited (SCADL) for Geographic Information System (GIS) integration and Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) health communication protocol, in consultation with AMC Health Department.
• →Facilitate engagement with Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College, BJ Medical College, and GMERS Medical College Sola for laboratory chain mapping and IDSP referral pathway confirmation, in coordination with the DSU.
• →Lead Continuing Medical Education (CME) and other in-clinic engagement sessions with private sector providers, laboratories and pharmacies on IHIP reporting, Form S/L/P compliance, and outbreak alert protocols, in coordination with AMC.
• →Conduct a situational analysis of the existing urban surveillance system across three wards, assessing surveillance coverage, IHIP reporting timeliness and completeness, data quality gaps, laboratory linkages, and peri-urban jurisdictional ambiguities to establish the evidence base for all subsequent deliverables.

The Ward Action Plan translates Risk Atlas findings into a government-owned response framework.

• →Lead preparatory discussions with the AMC Additional Commissioner and Officer In charge Metropolitan Surveillance Unit (OIC-MSU) to build consensus on the Ward Action Plan scope before the multi-stakeholder review.
• →Facilitate the multi-stakeholder Ward Action Plan joint review chaired by the Additional Commissioner, coordinating inputs from OIC-MSU, DSO, City Engineer (Water), AMC Entomologist, Deputy Commissioner (Social Development), and SCADL.
• →Ensure SOPs, escalation matrices, and inter-departmental trigger frameworks developed by the Program Officer are reviewed, ratified, and embedded within existing AMC governance structures.
• →Ensure the Ward Action Plan drives data actionability that surveillance outputs translate into weekly response planning, early warning triggers, and field action at ward level
• →Support sign-off from AMC Commissioner's Office and District Magistrate; facilitate the first quarterly inter-departmental coordination meeting.

The Surveillance Lead validates the approach and analytical framework for Risk Atlas development.

• →Review and sign off on the data collection protocol, risk scoring framework, and ward map methodology before field deployment begins.
• →Oversee the field enumeration phase, providing escalation support to the Analyst and Ward Surveillance Officers. Lead vendor engagement, government clearances, and contractual accountability for the third-party drone survey agency.
• →Lead government review sessions with the Chief Health Officer, DSO, Zone Medical Officers, and AMC departments for validation and approval of draft ward maps.
• →Lead the formal submission of the Ward-Level Risk Atlas to AMC and NCDC, packaged for government adoption and replication.

The Surveillance Lead owns the senior government relationships that make upskilling and drill participation possible.

• →Lead mid and senior-level upskilling for DSU Medical Officers, Zone Medical Officers, and DSO on outbreak investigation, inter-departmental triggers, and IDSP case definitions, in coordination with the District Health Society.
• →Oversee field-level upskilling of approximately 240 ward health staff, delivered by Ward Surveillance Officers and the Program Officer.
• →Design and facilitate pathogen-specific simulation drills testing the detection-to-response chain with MSU and DSU; lead post-drill reviews to identify bottlenecks.
• →Review post-upskilling compliance findings from the Analyst and present recommended actions to government counterparts.

• →Lead stockpile assessments at AMC Medical Stores, MSU Public Health Surveillance and Response Centre (PHSRC), and ward Urban Health Centres (UHCs) for Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), water testing kits, and Dengue NS1 and Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), in coordination with the Program Officer and Analyst.
• →Lead coordination with the AMC Media Cell and SCADL Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) to establish a health communication protocol and operationalise the ward-level Rumour Sentinel Network, with handover to AMC at close.
• →Oversee mapping of laboratory sample collection, transport, and reporting pathways, and confirm IDSP referral linkages with partner medical colleges.

• →Lead monthly review meetings with government counterparts at State, AMC, DSU, and MSU levels; participate in internal reviews with WJCF senior management.
• →Prepare and submit monthly and quarterly donor progress reports to JSI/TIFA; ensure milestone evidence, government approvals, training records, drill documentation, Risk Atlas outputs, is compiled and submitted on schedule.
• →Maintain a live milestone tracker; flag risks proactively to the WJCF senior management.
• →Lead project close-out, including government handover packages, Risk Atlas and Ward Action Plan submissions to the AMC Commissioner's Office, and the formal close-out event.

• MBBS from a recognised institution; postgraduate qualification in public health, community medicine, or epidemiology (Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Public Health (MPH), or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• 5–7 years in public health programme implementation, with experience in disease surveillance or urban health and at least two years of direct engagement with government health systems at district or municipal level.
• Demonstrated ability to work alongside government systems, supporting institutional processes such as joint reviews, inter-departmental coordination, and policy sign-offs without displacing government ownership.
• Experience facilitating upskilling programmes and simulation drills for government health workforces.
• Working knowledge of IDSP, IHIP reporting, and outbreak investigation protocols.
• Strong communication in English and Gujarati or Hindi.
• Willingness to spend approximately 60% of time in the field across government offices, wards, and medical colleges.

• Prior experience with NCDC, IDSP surveillance units, or National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) urban health programmes.
• Familiarity with Smart City infrastructure or GIS-based surveillance tools.
• Prior experience in urban disease surveillance, outbreak response, or epidemic preparedness programmes
• Exposure to National Health Mission (NHM) financial and planning guidelines, including the Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) process.
• Working knowledge of AI productivity tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot for report drafting and data synthesis.

• Government Credibility: Has Technical competencies and knows how to work within the system, not around it.
• Institutional Navigation: Moves multi-stakeholder processes forward, joint reviews, signoffs, inter-departmental coordination, while keeping government ownership intact.
• Clinical/Public Health grounding: Brings physician-level insight to surveillance discussions; engages medical college faculty and private providers on clinical aspect.
• Team Leadership: Manages the Program Officer, Analyst, and Ward Surveillance Officers to a high standard; creates conditions for the team to deliver without micromanaging.
• Communication: Crisp briefings for senior officials; clear instructions for field teams.
• Accountability: Owns milestone delivery; flags risks early rather than waiting for problems to escalate.
• Adaptability: Maintains programme momentum when government timelines shift; adjusts approach without losing the thread.