Consultants - National Immunization strategic plan

1. Purpose of the consultancy

To provide technical support to the Ministry of Health and the WHO country office to develop a new National Immunization Strategy 2021-2025 based on Immunization Agenda 2030, aligned to SDGs 2030.

<pre style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="font-family:"Courier New""><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="color:#002060">The specific objective of the mission will be to:
1) ensure a documentary review based on the last 5 years spent under the 2016-2020 cMYP; 
2) ensure an analysis of the EPI situation using a field methodology that integrates all stakeholders from the central level and health regions, as well as the public and private sectors. 
3) Develop the budgeted national immunization strategy, aligned with the 2030 immunization agenda and the SDGs, 
4) Organize a consensus workshop for the validation of the national vaccination strategy. 
5) develop the first annual operational plan as well as a vaccination guide in Djibouti.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

2. Background

The vaccine-preventable diseases and epidemic prone disease remain public health concern in Djibouti. Thanks to government commitment and support from development partners, the immunization program has succeeded in improving immunization coverage trends in recent years, with a stated goal of achieving at least essential coverage rates. ensure collective immunity against certain diseases, and therefore achieve or even exceed the overall objectives of elimination or eradication of patients with high epidemic potential.

The epidemiological profile of Djibouti shows a disparity of these vaccine-preventable diseases, between rural and urban areas, particularly represented by the capital which alone brings together nearly 70% of the population, including a poor from the rural exodus and economic immigration from neighboring countries are concentrated in peri-urban areas. In addition, Djibouti, through its hospitality, is a land of welcome for many refugees and a transit corridor for migrants leaving for the Arabian Peninsula. There are other vulnerable populations represented by internally displaced persons, nomads and other floating populations.

Djibouti recently developed its 2019-2024 national health development plan with a vision oriented towards universal health coverage. The immunization program is included as a central pillar of integrating and strengthening primary health care to achieve universal health coverage. The equity and profitability dimension of vaccination appears to be a lever for public health intervention aimed at reducing hospitalizations, the costs of treating vaccine preventable diseases and deaths.

In addition, Djibouti, given its economic boom, and classified as a middle-income country, is preparing to begin the accelerated transition phase of GAVI, the ultimate objective of which is a gradual exit from eligibility for GAVI support and attainment of financial independence by 2027.

The advent of the COVID19 pandemic in its initial phase has contributed to the slowdown in the supply of primary health services in general and those of routine vaccination in particular, with an impact on the disruption of demand. The feats recorded at the global level by the development of vaccines against COVID19, served to recall the importance of vaccination as the main indispensable weapon for the prevention of the impact of certain emerging / re-emerging diseases with epidemic potential. On the other hand, Djibouti is in the process of preparing and / or introducing new vaccines in its vaccination schedule. These are the combined measles and rubella vaccines, the papillomavirus vaccine, the poliovirus vaccines via stable nOPV2 and the second dose of IPV.

The new global strategy driven by IA2030, which permanently replaces the Global Action Plan and the 2011-2020 vaccine decade, comes into force at the end of Djibouti's 2016-2020 comprehensible multi-year plan. The new vision of IA2030 will be taken into account during the development of the new vaccination strategy, in order to guarantee a country where all its population, whatever their location, origin and age, benefit from vaccination for a long time. better health and better well-being.

Faced with all these new challenges, the new vaccination strategy will be developed, while ensuring alignment of contextual national priorities with the global one, represented by IA 2030, the SDGs, the GPW13, with the regional strategic framework for vaccination, and the national health development plan. These strategic directions will facilitate better management of GAVI's accelerated transition phase. This reference document will ultimately ensure national and international advocacy for financial mobilization and the search for new post-GAVI funding opportunities. This new national vaccination strategy will also lay the foundations for the routine integration of vaccination throughout the life cycle of old and new vaccines in general and that against COVID19 in particular.

The process of developing this new strategy will be carried out in its first phase, on the basis of a programmatic review of the previous comprehensive multi-year plan, in order to identify the main opportunities and constraints, identify the root causes of the axes of improvement, and translate it into objectives, according to the theory of change approach. The next phases up to budgeting will take place in light of the steps mentioned in the new tools and materials developed by WHO and UNICEF (NIS Guide, NIS costing tool, etc.).

The operationalization of this new strategy will take place during the first 2 years around a monitored operational action plan, using the monitoring-evaluation framework, the indicators of which can inform and trigger the review exercise of the new national immunization strategy.

It is in this context that the Ministry of Health, through its Expanded Program on Immunization, requested technical assistance from WHO for the development of its new national vaccination strategy for the next 5 years, 2021- 2024.

3. Planned timelines:

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and in harmony with travel policies, the mission will take place as follows: face to face and or remotely, or in hybrid mode,

The duration of the consultation is for 6 month or less.

4. Work to be performed

The following tasks and deliverables are related to technical support to develop a national immunization strategy for the EPI program.

Output 1****: Perform a situation analysis of the Expanded Program on Immunization based on the 2016-2020 comprehensive multi-year plan.

• Deliverable 1.1: Carry out a complete documentary review based on the last 5 years spent within the framework of the cMYP 2016-2020.
• Deliverable 1.2: Organize on-site assessments and interviews with EPI health staff and health regions as well as with other stakeholders involved in EPI management.
• Deliverable 1.3: Prepare and validate the evaluation report of the comprehensive multi-year plan 2016-2020.

Output 2****: Develop Djibouti's new National immunization strategy for 2021-2015.

• Deliverable 2.1: Review the literature to gather all the key documents and guidelines needed at the global, regional and national levels, to guide the development of the new national immunization strategy in Djibouti.
• Deliverable 2.2: Provide technical assistance for the establishment of a steering committee and a multisectoral technical committee of the NIS.
• Deliverable 2.3: Organize consultation workshops with the various committees, techniques and other stakeholders for the strategic orientation of the medium and long-term vision of immunization aligned with the 6 strategic priorities and the 4 core principles of IA 2030.
• Deliverable 2.4: Organize a national dialogue in the form of an inclusive budgeting workshop based on the NIS budgeting tool with the participation of the ministry of health, the ministry of finance and development partners to estimate, secure and allocate national and external budgets available, to the priority objectives of the plan, and identify the gaps to be filled.
• Deliverable 2.5: Build a consensus for the validation, approval and endorsement of the budgeted national immunization strategy by the national authorities.

Output 3: Provide technical expertise for the implementation and monitoring-evaluation of the national immunization strategy of Djibouti.:

• Deliverable 3.1: Provide technical expertise for the development of a budgeted annual operational plan.
• Deliverable 3.2: Develop a national monitoring-evaluation framework with well-established indicators aligned with those of the national health development plan, l’IA 2030, GPW13 and SDGs , reflecting the different components of the EPI, stratified according to the level of the health pyramid: central, intermediate, operational and community.
• Deliverable 3.3: Build a consensus for the validation of the annual operational plan and national monitoring-evaluation framework.
• Deliverable 3.4:

Output 4: Produce the various reports

• Deliverable 4.1: make regular interim reports available
• Deliverable 4.2: Provide the final mission reports including in annex: the final version of the NIS, the monitoring-evaluation framework, the operational vaccination plan

5. Technical Supervision

The selected Consultant will work under the supervision of:

Responsible Officer:

Dr Edie-Alain KEMENANG,

Programme officer WHO-Djibouti

Manager:

Dr Reinhilde VAN DE WEERDT

WHO Representative Djibouti

4. Specific requirement:

   Qualification required

• Essential: Masters’ degree in public health, Communicable disease, social sciences, Health economics, and other health related field.

• Desirable: PHD in public health will be an asset

• Experience required:

• • Essential: At least 10 years of experience in developing a comprehensive multi-year plan or national immunization strategy for the Expanded Program on Immunization.
  • Experience in communicable disease, vaccine preventable disease and vaccination, in low- or middle-income countries.
  • Desirable: Experience working in academic institutions, United Nations organizations / agencies, international institutions or international NGOs.

Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

• Excellent skills in vaccine preventable disease and vaccination.
• Very good knowledge of the health system and the context of vaccine preventable disease and immunization in Djibouti
• Ability to collaborate or manage a diverse group of stakeholders from multi-cultural backgrounds
• Demonstrated strong communication skill
• Experience in writing reports and facilitating workshops
• Scientific and technical knowledge in the field of vaccine preventable disease and immunization, in particular in the development of strategies, training modules, facilitation of training sessions, supervision, mentoring of health care providers and evaluation of programs.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software package (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Ability to work in team.

Language requirements:

• • Excellent knowledge of French (Spoken and written),
  • knowledge of Arabic will be an asset

7. Travel

The consultant is expected to travel according to the arrangement set by the country office.

All travel arrangements will be made by WHO – WHO will not be responsible for tickets purchased by the Consultant without the express, prior authorization of WHO. While on mission under the terms of this consultancy, the Consultant will receive subsistence allowance.

Visas requirements: it is the consultant’s responsibility to fulfil visa requirements and ask for visa support letter(s) if needed.

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's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice - https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values
• 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.