Relindis Mborong
Public Health Specialist
Yaounde
Summary
A Global health specialist with over 8 years of experience coordinating HIV and Reproductive Health programs at the intermediate level of the Cameroon health system, with government as well as non-governmental organizations. In my last position, I supported the Cameroon health system in the Prevention of Mother-To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT), pediatric and adolescent HIV care with ICAP Global Health in the Adamaoua region.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
21
21
years of post-secondary education
5
5
Certifications
2
2
Languages
Work History
Mentor PMTCT, Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Care
ICAP Columbia University
Adamaoua, Cameroon
04.2020 - 09.2024
- The position is intended to strengthen the health system in the response in the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (eMTCT), in improving case finding, and providing optimal HIV care in pediatric and adolescent HIV
- Lead and supervise a team of 64 health providers and data clerks in the strategic implementation of PMTCT, pediatric and adolescent HIV care in the region
- Participated in a team of 28 in the annual micro planning workshop for FY22 and FY23, whereby program activities were identified, planned, and budgeted for
- Drew weekly and monthly work plans for the program aimed at covering the annual work plans
- Monitored performances of sites at weekly, monthly, and quarterly intervals through data tracking in the DHIS and DAMA software
- Analyzed the data generated by sites in the DHIS and DAMA to write weekly, monthly and quarterly performance reports
- Trained and mentors Health district Teams in the ongoing pediatric SURGE and District Approach to PMTCT
- 24 HIV infected children and 84 adults living with HIV have been identified by August 2024
- Planned and organized the quarterly regional coordination meetings for PMTCT, pediatric and adolescent HIV care with stakeholders from the government, non-governmental and civil society organizations
- Mentored frontline health providers in monitoring the nutritional status of children, adolescents and pregnant and breastfeeding women receiving ARVs in Adamaoua region; identified and referred Severe acute malnutrition to treatment centers and Moderate acute malnutrition to outpatient treatment centers
- Supported WFP Food Supplementation initiative by identifying eligible HIV exposed and infected children, and women at PMTCT
- Planned and budgeted for quarterly supervision of health facilities using the Site Implementation and Monitoring System (SIMS) tool to identify gaps in implementation, supply chain and logistics
- Drew Quality Improvement plan by making a root-cause analysis of the gaps identified in performance, drew remedial plan, made recommendations and disseminated best practices with all the sites
- Initiated mobile antenatal care (ANC) in the ICAP-supported health facilities and mentored mobile ANC teams on refocused ANC
- This increased ANC uptake from 78% in 2020 to 150% in 2023
- Mentored health providers in HIV testing of all pregnant and breastfeeding women, ensuring early initiation to HIV care of newly tested positive, and offering of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services
- Advocated for the transfer of PMTCT services to the mother and child care /antenatal care (ANC) unit at high volume option B+ sites in the region to facilitate the one-stop shop model of health delivery
- Trained, mentored and monitored 13 mother-mentors at 10 PMTCT high volume sites to support women newly initiated to care and treatment and in support group animation thus improving retention from 78% in 2020 to 87% in 2023, and viral suppression from 81% to over 91% in 2024
- Trained community leaders and traditional birth attendants (matrones) in sensitization, and referral of pregnant women for HIV testing, ANC and assisted delivery services
- Supported service providers in the use of cohort monitoring registers and the patient tracking register to identify loss-to-follow-up mother/child pair at PMTCT, women eligible for viral load and the respect of the national algorithm for viral load collection and enhanced adherence counseling ((EAC) for cases of high viral load
- Collaborates with the community partner in identifying and enrolling HIV infected children and adolescents to the OVC program
- Instituted active search of HIV symptomatic children and orphans in the rural communities, with the community health workers, for HIV testing, management of common ailments and referral to hospital of serious cases
- This improved HIV case finding by 36% in 2023
- Organized capacity building workshops of over 200 frontline healthcare workers in the new guidelines in pediatric and adolescent HIV management, transitioning to DTG10mg, management of High Viral load in children and adolescents, screening and management of advance HIV diseases (AHD)
- Facilitated the 11-day on-site capacity building workshop of 48 health providers at Pediatric Training Center of Excellence (PTCE) of the Yagoua and Ngaoundere Regional Hospitals
- Lead joint quarterly supervision with the district and community partner in the three (3) Pediatric Training Centers of Excellence (PTCE) in the region
- This has reduced the mortality rate in pediatric HIV care by more than 45% compared to 2022
- Incorporated adolescent HIV care in the two adolescent reproductive health centers of district hospital Meiganga and regional hospital Ngaoundere as a Differential Service Delivery method to improve retention and stigmatization
- Collaborates with the regional delegation of youth affairs (MINJES) to identified five groups of adolescent boys and girls of 35 to 40 per group, with the aim of developing resilience, and empowerments in HIV, reproductive health, GBV and life skills
- Trained, mentored and monitored 15 adolescent peers in offering psychological support to their peers, and in animating support groups with the Operation Triple Zero (OTZ) and U=U messages
- Formed two groups OTZ + clubs for pregnant and breastfeeding (PBF) adolescent AGYW in Ngaoundere town
- Developed training modules, and organized the capacity-building workshop of 60 health providers in the screening, identification and management of GBV cases among women and adolescents living with HIV
- Mentored health providers in the screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) and GBV in adolescent girls and boys, and women receiving ARVs in health facilities for GBV clinical management, psychological first aid, and gender-sensitive HIV care provided to the survivors
- Implemented and monitored self-testing among partners of pregnant women at ANC
- Organized capacity building workshops of over 200 frontline healthcare workers in the new guidelines in pediatric and adolescent HIV management, transitioning to DTG10mg, management of High Viral load in children and adolescents, screening and management of advance HIV diseases (AHD)
- Planned and organized a 5-day training workshop of 70 health workers and psychosocial agents in 2 sessions, in PMTCT and in the use of the cohort registers
- Main facilitator in the on-site training of health providers in the prevention of COVID19 and TB, in HIV self-testing and in identification, risk assessment and care of the HIV Key population
- Use the ECHO platform to train health workers in the three pediatric centers of excellence in the region
- Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Proven ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations.
- Skilled at working independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
- Worked well in a team setting, providing support and guidance.
Index Case Testing Officer for Cluster 3
EGPAF (CDC Attendre95 project)
10.2019 - 03.2020
- This position was meant to increase HIV case finding in the health facility as well as the community through contact tracing of HIV infected patients
- Led a team of 34 health providers and data entry clerks
- Drew the monthly work plan for index testing activities for all health facilities in the cluster according to the budgeted index testing activities
- Monitored daily, weekly and monthly data from sites and generated reports and weekly presentations on index testing activities for the weekly program meeting, identified gaps and drew strategies for improvement
- Index testing yield improved from 7% in 2019 to 12% in March 2020
- Organized the on-site training of 107 health care providers and case managers on index case testing notification methods, screening for intimate violence, and on the use of data collecting tools
- Co facilitator in the training of 25 laboratory technicians in HIV testing algorithm and in Quality assurance, including the necessary tools
- Strengthening the capacity of health providers through continuous online and in-person mentoring and coaching on the scale-up case finding and HIV testing, proper counseling techniques, the respect of minimum standards for index testing
Regional Focal Point for Reproductive Health
Ministry of public health
North West Region
01.2016 - 09.2019
- Led a team of more than 80, made up of 19 district teams and regional office staff
- Provided technical support to the 19 districts in the North West region toward the realization of the national strategic plan for reproductive and adolescent health
- Participant in the annual national microplanning workshop with implementing partners in reproductive health and in the prevention of mother-to-child prevention of HIV (PMTCT)
- Monitored program performance regularly through data tracking in the DHIS2, analyzed the data to write monthly, quarterly and annual performance reports, and producing presentations
- Provided technical support to the 19 health districts in the region in implementation of PMTCT strategies, drew work plans and held quarterly advocacy meetings on PMTCT, pediatric and adolescent HIV with stakeholders to discuss challenges and share best practices
- Facilitator in the capacity building workshop of 600 healthcare providers in the PMTCT option B+ rollout phase in the region in collaboration with the CBCHB in the HIV Free PEPFAR funded project
- Planned and organized the yearly training of 195 psychosocial agents (APS) in HIV pre and posttest counseling case finding, retention and patient monitoring
- Coordinated the five-year project on the point-of-care Early Infant Diagnosis (POC-EID) project with UNTAID-EGPAF
- Planned and organized the bi-annual regional multi-sectorial maternal and neonatal death review committee (MNDRC) with stakeholders from the community, NGOs intervening in reproductive health, and governmental ministerial departments that are directly involved with women and youth and the private health sector
- Best practices were shared and recommendations on the challenges were identified
- Provided technical support to the districts in holding the monthly District MNDRC, and ensuring the implementation of recommendations from maternal audits held
- Identified 16 members of the reproductive health training pool for the region, who participated in the scale-up training on administration and generation of interest in subcutaneous DMPA (sayana press) and basic emergency maternal and neonatal obstetric care (EMNoC) training of health providers in the region
- Carried out daily surveillance of maternal and neonatal mortality and ‘near misses’ in the region and weekly reporting using the reporting masque to the national maternal mortality surveillance committee
- Supported rural health facilities in the implementation of kangaroo care for premature babies from 1.8kg, and kangaroo position during the transportation of smaller babies to higher-level health facilities for care
- Provided technical support to implementing partners in the capacity building workshop of six hundred health care providers in option B+ scale-up in the HIV Free project, organizing quarterly supervision of PMTCT option B+ sites, and semestrial evaluation of high volume sites using the Site Improvement and Monitoring System (SIMS) checklist, in the NW region
- Advocated for technical support in GBV from UNFPA for the Northwest region at the early stage of the Anglophone crises in 2017, and was co-opted in the initial assessment with the UNFPA team for Tubah and Bamenda health districts
- Identified capacity building needs and planned and organized the capacity building of over 70 medical doctors and nurses in the region in the clinical management of GBV in an emergency, and over 35 community case workers in the identification, referral, and psychological first aid, in collaboration with UNFPA, ‘medecin sans frontiere’ and ‘medecin du monde’
- Participated in the monthly GBV sub-cluster meeting for Bamenda with other stakeholders like the delegation of women’s empowerment, NGOs intervening in GBV, civil society organizations, the police, and the legal department
- Averagely 30 cases of all forms of GBV were managed clinically every month, and about five legal cases were
- Planned and organized the 5-day capacity reinforcement workshop of adolescent boys and girls on reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, HIV prevention, and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV), sponsored by Plan international
Data Manager at Tubah Health District
Ministry of public health
Bambili
01.2011 - 12.2015
- Data entry for all district programs
Clinical Nurse
Ministry of public health
Bambui
01.2003 - 12.2011
- Primary health care activities in the health centers
- Clinical nursing activities
Education
Ph.D. - Public Health
Texila American University
Guyana 01.2017 - Current
Masters (MSc.) - Reproductive Health
University of Buea
Buea 01.2011 - 01.2015
Bachelor (BSc.) - Nursing Science
University of Buea
01.2007 - 01.2010
Bachelor (LLB) - Law
University of Dschang
Dschang 01.2000 - 01.2005
Certificate In Global Health Leadership - (Afya Bora Fellowship)
University of Washington
Washington 10.2018 - 11.2019
Skills
Certification
09/01/21, Online training course on Research Methodology and research protocol development, GFMER, WHO
Disclaimer
I declare that the information given in this CV is correct.
Timeline
Mentor PMTCT, Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Care
ICAP Columbia University
04.2020 - 09.2024
Index Case Testing Officer for Cluster 3
EGPAF (CDC Attendre95 project)
10.2019 - 03.2020
Certificate In Global Health Leadership - (Afya Bora Fellowship)
University of Washington
10.2018 - 11.2019
Ph.D. - Public Health
Texila American University
01.2017 - Current
Regional Focal Point for Reproductive Health
Ministry of public health
01.2016 - 09.2019
Data Manager at Tubah Health District
Ministry of public health
01.2011 - 12.2015
Masters (MSc.) - Reproductive Health
University of Buea
01.2011 - 01.2015
Bachelor (BSc.) - Nursing Science
University of Buea
01.2007 - 01.2010
Clinical Nurse
Ministry of public health
01.2003 - 12.2011
Bachelor (LLB) - Law
University of Dschang
01.2000 - 01.2005
09/01/21, Online training course on Research Methodology and research protocol development, GFMER, WHO
07/01/21, Confronting Gender-Based Violence; Global lessons for health workers, Johns Hopkins University
02/01/21, Certificate in Health in complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Emory University
09/01/18, Certificate of Training of Trainers in the clinical management of GBV, UNFPA and Ministry of Public Health Cameroon
02/01/18, 06/30/18, Certificate in the introduction to procurement and supply chain management, UNDP
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