International consultancy for collecting the evidence and reporting on Kyrgyzstan efforts to achieve EMTCT of HIV, hepatitis and syphilis

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, care

Main objectives:

• To conduct pre-validation assessment on national readiness for dual elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV and Hepatitis at the national and sub-national level, with benefiting the model for low HIV prevalence in general population and concentrated countries on 4 core areas including data quality, laboratory quality assurance, program and service assessment, and human rights, gender equality and community engagement.
• To develop the national pre-validation report which includes the current progress, bottlenecks/barriers to be addressed and proposed actions.  The technical consultant will organize a consultative meeting to present the draft pre-validation report for discussion with stakeholders to address barriers and gaps which could translate to solid, practical, and clear recommendations in each area on how to overcome the bottlenecks.
• Jointly with national team develop a action plan/road map along with recommendations on monitoring tool for execution of the plan with a clear timeframe.

Methodology and Technical Approach:

The consultant will be required to work closely with the MoH and UNICEF Health specialist and Chief Health unit.

Prior assessment consultant is expected to 1) conduct desk review of all available reports, publications and indicators from national HMISand 2) Based on the desk review and meeting with national team to develop a pre-validation assessment plan.

To conduct the national pre-validation assessment on EMTCT of HIV, Hepatitis and syphilis, consultant should consider the four fields of validation assessment:

a)           Data and surveillance systems including desk review to assess the reliability of the generated/ existing data (public/ private sectors) to evaluate achievement of the elimination targets, and to ascertain that the impact and coverage targets are achieved.

b)          Programme evaluation and assessment, including reviewing and validating current recording and reporting system for PMTCT activities, key gaps in surveillance, monitoring and evaluation of PMTCT of HIV, Hepatitis and syphilis service delivery system.  Selective cross checking must be made with the national data.

c)           Laboratory assessment including reviewing Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) on HIV/Hepatitis/syphilis diagnosis in Kyrgyzstan to verify the existence of an adequate laboratory network to provide the services needed to achieve and maintain  programme for EMTCT, and to ensure that the results generated by the laboratory network are accurate and reliable.

d)          Health rights, gender equality and community engagement including reviewing the laws for human rights protection (women and children, adolescents/ young people, marginalized/ key populations) and sexual and reproductive rights.  This will also include a review of international human rights and gender equality instruments – conventions, treaties, protocols that Kyrgyzstan has signed and/or ratified to date.

The assessment should be run based on the UNICEF/WHO documents for concentrated HIV epidemic countries.

Based on assessment results, draft national pre-validation report and action plan/road map should be prepared. The report and action plan should be finalized based on a national stakeholders’ feedback.

How can you make a difference? 

Supervisor: Health Specialist, NOC	Start Date: May 20, 2024	End Date: January 30, 2025	Number of Days (working): 50 in case all three areas will be covered: HIV, Hepatitis, Syphilis or 40 days if only two areas will be covered – HIV and Hepatitis
Work Assignment Overview
Tasks/Milestone:	Deliverables/Outputs:	Timeline	Estimate Budget
Submission of executive plan and inception report	Preparation of executive plan based on the desk review and conducting the consultative meeting with the experts and stakeholders. This executive plan will address the methodology to reach the target including field visits, consultative meetings with experts, deliver of reports and explanation how the deliverables of the contract will be achieved and other schedules. The document will also specify the contents of the draft national pre-validation report and plan.	15 days	20%
2.  2.1 Conduct pre-validation assessment jointly with national team (in country).  2.2 Facilitate a consultative meeting to discuss the results with stakeholders (on-line)  2.3 Submission of draft pre-validation assessment report and action plan.	Pre-validation report and plan Progress report on conducting the pre-validation assessment on 4 core areas of EMTCT approaches using WHO pre-validation assessment checklist.  one 10 days country visit to review and validate current recording and reporting system for PMTCT activities.	25 days if HIV, Hepatitis and Syphilis are covered.   Or   15 days if only HIV and hepatitis are covered.	50%
Delivery of final report and action plan based on feedback and comments provided by national experts, stakeholders and UNICEF.	Final report including the barriers, enablers, recommendations, and feasible action plan with time frame regarding eMTCT of HIV, Hepatitis and Syphilis. If current consultancy will not cover Syphylys, separately provided report prepared by other consultant should be added into this final report.	10 days	30%

N.B.  All reports and presentations should be submitted in English or Russian – based on agreement with UNICEF. 

 One travel to Kyrgyzstan for 10 days, is planned. Within the visit the travel to Osh for 3 days is planned.

Please kindly include the financial offer  Fin Proposal 1.xlsx and for more details TOR is here.  TOR_PMTCT.docx

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

 Minimum medical university degree and Master of Public Health or equivalent experience. PhD is an advantage. 

Disciplines  

 medicine, health, HIV, Infection Diseases, sexually transmitted infections or public health. 

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:  

• Strong international experience with understanding of the HIV, AIDS M&E system including the surveillance system for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and Hepatitis and Syphilis.
• Familiarity or experience with triple elimination process.
• Excellent knowledge and skills in research (qualitative as well as quantitative) methods with strong analytical and report writing skills.
• Proven experience in conducting and/or managing HIV related research and studies, or EMTCT.
• Experience working with government organizations, especially with the MoH, and related institutions dealing with HIV/AIDS programme. major public health programs and key population network and other vulnerable populations.
• Previous working experience with UNICEF/UNs Kyrgyzstan in the area of PMTCT of HIV and Hepatitis is an asset.
• Good command of written English. Knowledge of Russian will be an asset.

The performance for the assignment will be assessed through weekly Zoom calls between the consultant and the country EMTCT task force.  More specifically the assignment evaluation will be assessed through:   

• Quality of work (i.e. work is acceptable by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF);
• Timeliness of work (delivered according to schedule below).
• Responsibility
• Communication

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.  

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.