Demand Creation Officer

**Main purpose of the job**:

- To create demand for paediatric and adolescent clients in relation to the project objectives -HIV Prevention, HIV care and treatment, TB and SRH, encouraging them to access services at the community and linked facilities

**Location**:

- **Wits RHI - Tshwane**

**Key performance areas**:

- Ensure that all HIV-infected children and adolescents from communities or facilities are linked to care at a health facility, and started on ART if applicable
- Ensure that all HIV positive paediatric patients and adolescents from the respective communities are linked to care and started on ART
- Mobilise and provide support for community HIV testing events
- Assist Community Counsellors with the establishment of after school testing services
- Distribute IEC material about HIV/TB, SRH and other related programmes
- Reaching out to children and their caregivers and adolescents-motivating them to undertake HIV testing, perform HIV Screening and refer eligible clients for testing at roving community teams, subscribing to SRH services and initiating ART if relevant
- Creating community awareness and demand for HIV services and EPI
- Facilitate awareness and prevention conversations with young people in communities on formal and informal platforms like imbizos
- Provision of health talks on HIV and other Sexual Reproductive Health Issues including Family planning services
- Assist in the creation of demand creation tools and IEC Materials
- Work with co-workers to enhance project goals and outputs
- Identify the health needs of the communities-assist in health profiles
- Assist in creating demand through supply and distribution of the IEC materials on a continuous basis to the project population in the communities
- Assist the project in building and maintaining relationships with different stakeholders including OVCs and CBOs to enable the exchange of information to communities, and the health facilities
- Work closely with the WRHI Community team to create demand (through different platforms - community events, radio shows, outreach programmes etc.) in different settings, promote health awareness talks and distribution various IEC materials to communities to raise comprehensive health services
- Encourage and stimulate full participation by young people to utilize the mobile clinic services, with special attention to the marginalized
- Identification of community hot spots where many children and adolescents are located and not able to access health care services
- Develop and implement district-level demand creation strategies to create awareness of available HIV services for children and adolescents and strengthen referral to HIV Services from a variety of community entry points (i.e., schools, youth centres, health facilities, faith-based congregations, and community leadership structures)
- Work closely with district Community-based structures and stakeholders to strengthen the HIV Services at the community level
- Support rapid return of patients who are lost to follow-up at the community level
- Establish paediatric and adolescent community support clubs
- Work closely with Psycho-social QIA in the provision of training on support group resources
- Promote utilisation of Help Lines for psychosocial challenges
- Strengthen referrals by helping to build awareness of community-based programmes
- Support the strengthening of linkages to CHWs/CBOs for newly initiated children and adolescents
- Assist in establishing relevant Support Groups for Children, Adolescents and Caregivers
- Provide group education where appropriate to children, adolescents, and caregivers
- Assist with facility mop-up activities, contact all Paeds and adolescents on the missed appointment list weekly
- Make a minimum of 3 telephonic attempts to contact the client or next of kin if the client cannot be contacted
- Investigate the reasons for missing appointments and counsel appropriately
- If the client cannot be contacted telephonically, work with the WBOT or other field worker or community level worker or organisation to do a home visit
- Explore all Wits RHI and Department of Health options to trace the patient
- Compile progress reports on follow up of missed appointments
- Assist the intern data clerks to complete accurate information for patients receiving different services or referred for comprehensive SRH services, screened, offered, and initiated on ART
- Report on daily activities done to update the monthly stats on the number of people reached through health education and health promotion activities and assist with compiling monthly reports
- Attend programme-related meetings and training
- Take ownership and accountability for tasks
- Follow through to ensure that quality and productivity standards of own work are consistently and accurately maintained
- Maintain a positive attitude and respond openly to feedback
- Take ownership of driving your own career development by participating in ongoing trainin