Consultant – Maternal Health Clinician

Purpose of consultancy

To provide technical input to clinical maternal health operational guidance materials and documents.

Background

The Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing (MCA) Department at WHO HQ aligns with the goals and targets related to maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health to support the achievement of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work. The Department works closely with other technical units in HQ, WHO regional and country offices and partners to:

• Generate and synthesize evidence and define norms and standards for maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health.
• Support the adoption of evidence-based policies and multisectoral strategies for better health, through strengthening health systems and delivery of high quality services towards universal access to people-centred health care.
• Monitor and evaluate progress towards implementation of evidence-based policies and strategies for ‘survive, thrive and transform’.
• Strengthen capacity for all the above functions across WHO, countries and partners.

Each year, almost 300,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 2.6 million babies are stillborn and 2.4 million babies die in the first month of life. WHO/MCA has a maternal health unit which is committed to strengthening generation of evidence, development of guidelines and tools, supporting country adaptation and implementation, and monitoring and measurement for country level impact. WHO/MCA/MAH is in the process of developing operational guidance materials to translate WHO maternal health recommendations into country-level programmes. This position will support WHO/MCA/MAH in developing and finalizing these materials in additional to building consensus with UN agencies and development partners.

Deliverables

Task 1: Develop and build consensus on packages of interventions across levels of care for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum/postnatal periods, and newborn

• Deliverable 1: Review existing WHO documents, including WHO compilation of maternal health recommendations and EmONC revision recommendations on levels of care, and develop an outline of how to structure the packages of interventions. Expected by March 2022.
• Deliverable 2: Draft packages of interventions document, discuss with partners and incorporate feedback. Expected by May 2022.
• Deliverable 3: Finalize document on intervention packages. Expected by October 2022.

Task 2: Develop implementation guide for Labour Care Guide

• Deliverable 1: Review existing documents on Labour Care Guide and develop outline for implementation guide, including monitoring framework. Expected by February 2022.
• Deliverable 2: Draft implementation guide including monitoring framework and discuss with partners and incorporate feedback. Expected by March 2022.
• Deliverable 3: Finalize implementation guide for Labour Care Guide including monitoring framework. Expected by April 2022.

Task 3: Update clinical practice tools for antenatal care, intrapartum care, and postnatal care

• Deliverable 1: Develop concept note on how to update maternal health clinical practice tools (e.g. MCPC, PCPNP), including a strategy/approach for getting users’ perspectives on best format for updated clinical practice tools. Expected by February 2022.
• Deliverable 2: Report on user perspectives on best format for updated clinical practice tools. Expected by June 2022.
• Deliverable 3: Develop outline for updated clinical practice guides and discuss with partners and incorporate feedback. Expected by August 2022.
• Deliverable 4: Draft updated clinical practice guides and discuss with partners and incorporate feedback. Expected by October 2022.
• Deliverable 5: Finalize updated clinical practice guides. Expected by December 2022.

Task 4: Participate in MAH guideline scoping and development meetings

• Deliverable 1: Report on recommendations for MAH guideline scoping and development meetings. Expected by November 2022.

Task 5: Provide technical input on Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) Global Report

• Deliverable 1: Final MPDSR Global Report expected by December 2022.
• Deliverable 2: Concept note for updated ICD-PM expected by November 2022.

Task 6: Contribute to the development of a MNCAH programme implementation handbook

• Deliverable 1: Final maternal health content for the MNCAH programme implementation handbook.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential:

An advanced university medical degree from an accredited university in midwifery, medicine, and/or obstetrics and gynaecology

Desirable:

An advanced university degree (Masters or PhD) in Epidemiology, Public Health, International Health, or a public health science field related

Experience

Essential:

• Over 10 years’ experience in clinical practice for maternal and newborn health including providing clinical services to women and children
• Experience in maternal and newborn health programmes
• Experience working with colleagues from various cultural backgrounds
• Experience living and working in low- and middle-income countries

Desirable:

• At least 10 peer reviewed publications
• Experience in maternal and newborn health research including midwifery research

Skills/Knowledge:

Ability to conceptualize and write about complex health topics

Languages required:

Essential:

Expert knowledge of English

Desirable:

Basic knowledge of French

Location

Home based – Off-site.

Travel

No expected travel

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

Remuneration:

Band level C - USD 10,000 - 12,500 per month

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited):

N/A

Expected duration of contract:

11 months

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
• WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• Consultants working in Switzerland must register with the applicable Swiss cantonal tax authorities and social security authorities, within the prescribed timeframes (Guidelines issued by the Swiss Mission are available at: https://www.eda.admin.ch/missions/mission-onu-geneve/en/home/manual-regime-privileges-and-immunities/introduction/Manuel-personnes-sans-privileges-et-immunites-carte-H/Non fonctionnaires et stagiaires.html