Since the confirmation of the first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) has prioritized interventions to curb the outbreak. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the capacity of the health system to continue delivering essential health services, including SRH. In the context of the outbreak, many healthcare workers involved in providing SRH services have been reassigned to other roles essential to outbreak response. Continuity of SRH services focusing on post-abortion care, family planning and other interventions during the COVID -19 pandemic has been a priority for the World Health Organization (WHO).

Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider. The scope of self-care includes health promotion, disease prevention and control; self-medication; providing care to dependent persons; seeking hospital/specialist care if necessary; and rehabilitation, including palliative care.

Self-care interventions are evidence-based information, medicines, diagnostics, products and technologies that are fully or partially separate from formal health services and can be used with or without the direct supervision of a health worker. People have been practising self-care for millennia, but new products, information and technologies are changing how health services are delivered.

Self-care interventions, therefore, provide additional means for which people can access services, and it is an approach that can complement the delivery of services in situations where potential clients could be facing barriers due to different socio-economic, political and cultural contexts – marginalized/vulnerable groups, people living in contexts of humanitarian, conflict and emergencies.

Although several self-care interventions have been implemented over the years, Sierra Leone started institutionalizing self-care in 2020 when the HIV self-test kit was launched, focusing on key populations. Since then, WHO has had several engagements with MOHS to ensure that self-care interventions are prioritized, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, to improve access to SRH.

The WHO global guidelines need to be adapted and aligned to the Sierra Leone context based on PHC strategies, comprehensive essential service packages and people centeredness to ensure the feasibility of implementation. This consultancy will be supported by the WHO Country Office Sierra Leone to work with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to develop National Self-care Guidelines for SRH.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to work with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone to develop National Guidelines for Self-care Interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) adapted from the WHO Consolidated Guidelines.

DUTIES:

The principal role of the consultant will be to facilitate and coordinate the development of the national self-care guidelines following the road map of interventions agreed on at the stakeholder consultative meeting. This process will be led by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and supported by a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders from government NGOs, bilateral and multilateral partners working in the SRHR domain in Sierra Leone. The duties of the consultant are as follows:

Engage with and guide the National Task Force / Sub-Group of RCH TWG that is responsible for leading the process of adapting guidelines to the local context
Conduct a landscape analysis to review the extent to which existing national policies can support the implementation of self-care in Sierra Leone and identify the policy issues that need to be addressed, including linkages with the UHC roadmap that has already been developed.
Conduct stakeholder mapping to ensure all key players (including the private sector, regulatory bodies, partners, NGOs) are involved in developing and adapting the guidelines.
Develop a road map for implementation of the guidelines.

DELIVERABLES:

Report of policy landscape analysis.
Report indicating the key stakeholders required to be engaged in developing, implementing, and monitoring the self-care guidelines.
Roadmap for implementation of the self-care guidelines.
Draft of the self-care guidelines for validation (should include M&E framework and costed implementation plan).
A narrative consultancy report of the process followed for developing the self-care guidelines

TECHNICAL SUPERVISION

The consultant will complete the work under the overall guidance of the WHO Representative to the Sierra Leone Country Office and direct supervision of the WCO Basic Package of Essential Services Coordinator in close collaboration with the Programme Manager of Reproductive Health and Family Planning MOHS and WCO Technical Officer RH.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Essential:

Master degree in public health or other related advanced university degrees in health / social sciences

Desirable:

Professional degree in Sexual and Reproductive Health

WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an accredited institution. The list can be accessed through this link: http://www.whed.net/

Experience:

Essential:

• At least 7 years of experience working in Sexual and Reproductive Health programmes in the Africa region.

• Proof of experience working on self-care for SRHR – with a particular focus on the development of guidelines, frameworks, strategies for SRHR self-care implementation

Desirable:

• Experience working with WHO, other UN agencies, national/international organizations would be an asset

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

Essential:

• Excellent writing skills

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

• Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural team and to keep to strict deadlines

WHO Competencies REQUIRED

• Teamwork

• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

• Communication

• Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond