International Consultancy on quality improvement of neonatal care in Azerbaijan

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Application deadline 2 years ago: Tuesday 15 Feb 2022 at 14:00 UTC

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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

Azerbaijan has made certain efforts to strengthen perinatal care for mothers and newborns during the last decade as part of the prioritization of maternal and child health (MCH) and implementation of the state programme on the improvement of MCH. Perinatal care concept was developed envisaging regionalization of services and organization of care at three levels with the establishment of relevant referral system for risky pregnancies and newborns, including preterm born. 7 perinatal centres were established across the country providing access to tertiary level care at the regional level. Investments were made into the renovation of the infrastructure of maternity wards and perinatal centres, as well as the capacity building of relevant healthcare workers. Since 2015 Azerbaijan has shifted to a new definition of live birth, now allowing babies from 22 weeks of gestation and 500 gr of weight to expect appropriate resuscitation and care if they have any signs of life, while in the past they were treated as late miscarriages and provided any care only if survived for 7 days themselves. All the efforts and reforms in perinatal care are accompanied by significant improvements in maternal and neonatal mortality rates. According to UN IGME data neonatal mortality has fallen from 33.5 in 2000 to 10.9 per 1,000 live births in 2019. Maternal mortality has fallen from 47 per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 26 in 2017. However, these figures are still high compared to the country income level and other development indicators. Considering ongoing healthcare reforms and the introduction of social health insurance, the government is interested in the improvement of the organization of care most adequately and cost-effectively and ensuring quality care availability at regional and district levels. This is considered a good entry point for UNICEF to provide the necessary expertise and technical support in this area.

Recent rapid assessment of neonatal and delivery care in Azerbaijan has revealed certain progress in the provision of these services. However, there is still a need for improvement of quality of care, particularly in terms of reducing the gap between primary, secondary and tertiary levels, improvement of referral and information exchange mechanisms, application of support for early initiation of breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact and reducing the separation of mothers and babies after birth. At the end of the mission, a de-brief was conducted with all key government partners in the health sector, and agreement was to support the improvement of the quality of MCNH in a systematic way, for which UNICEF will organize a national orientation workshop to introduce and adapt (to local context) Standards for Improving Quality of Maternal and Neonatal Care in Health Facilities and provide further guidance on their implementation. In addition, as the government is currently implementing reforms (restructuring and optimization of health services and facilities) that affect MCNH, it’s necessary to review all these administrative and financial decisions (reforms) and provide technical guidance to navigate them, referring to the best available evidence and practices.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical assistance to UNICEF and the Government of Azerbaijan in review, adaptation and adoption of Quality Standards for maternal and newborn care; development of road map and action plan for their operationalization and integration on hospital performance indicators and quality assurance practices, and support government partners at initial stage of implementation.

Scope of Work:

The international consultant will be mainly in charge of:

Conduct rapid analysis of existing neonatal care and identify key issues and gaps in provision of quality maternal and neonatal health services in Azerbaijan

  • Desk review of all existing relevant documents, policies, standards and interventions
  • Analysis of key indicators for MNCH
  • Development of inception report with all initial findings

Facilitate an in country technical workshop with relevant government partners (Ministry of Health, State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance (SAMHI) and TABIB (Administration of Regional Medical Divisions) on adaptation of Quality Standards for maternal and newborn health

The technical workshop (2-days) will support key government decision-makers and experts to go together through Standards for Improving Quality of Maternal and Neonatal Care in Health Facilities and relevant indicators, adapt them to Azerbaijan context and prepare national quality standards for maternal and newborn healthcare for different levels of care (primary, secondary and tertiary). Workshop will also help to do more in-depth analysis of existing issues and bottlenecks in maternal and neonatal care and identify interventions to address them. After the workshop it’s expected that consultant will compile all comments and suggestions and prepare national quality standards document and road map (including action plan) for it’s operationalization by SAMHI and TABIB. This can be again discussed with key staff of SAMHI/TABIB during after-workshop meeting. Consultant will also update the inception report with more detailed information on bottlenecks in MNCH and recommendations on appropriate interventions.

Provide remote support as needed at initial stage of implementation of quality standards

After the finalization of nationalized quality standards documents and the road map (Action plan) for its implementation, technical support may be needed at the initial stage of operationalization of these standards. This support can be provided remotely through series of online meetings and consultations with SAMHI/TAIB relevant staff.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Inception phase - Developing report with rapid assessment of situation in neonatal care and analysis of existing documents and policies

Inception report (not more than 20 pages), with assessment of maternal and neonatal services

10 working days

Design the technical workshop

Design of technical workshop – agenda, ppts, other materials to facilitate the workshop

Facilitating face-to-face technical workshop with MoH, SAMHI and TABIB

Technical workshop (1.5-2 days)

8 working days

Presentation of final report, draft national standards and roadmap for their operationalization in Azerbaijan

Final Report (not more than 30 pages excluding Annexes)

National Quality Standards for maternal and neonatal care with roadmap including an Executive Summary/Policy Paper (two pages).

Remote consultations to support implementation of quality standards

2 full days divided into online consultation sessions as needed

Supervisor of the consultancy is UNICEF Health & Nutrition Specialist.

Start date: March 2022

End date: June 2022

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

  • An advanced university degree in Public Health, Medicine, Maternal and Neonatal Health or equivalent
  • Advanced University degree (MSc or PhD) will be an asset
  • At least 10-12 years of experience in the area of MNCH, quality improvement of health services, design and implementation of interventions in the area of MNCH.
  • Strong professional expertise and experience at national and international levels on maternal and neonatal health
  • Professional record of conducting assessments and situation analysis
  • Ability to communicate with and convene government stakeholders
  • Strong analytical skills, excellent drafting of professional and standard reports and communication skills; excellent facilitation capacity.
  • General knowledge of UN evaluation policy, norms and standards, including a human rights-based approach to programming and results-based management, including gender equality and child.
  • Experience in working with UN / UNICEF and government entities.
  • Excellent mastery of English including in report writing and presentation.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Interested applicants are required to provide the following documents:

  • A short cover letter, highlighting relevant experience with similar type of assignments (max 300 words).
  • CV of the individual applicants
  • A technical proposal with tentative workplan and timeframe
  • Financial proposal
  • Samples or links to related work previously conducted by the consultant

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

Note: All consultants & individual contractors regardless of contract duration must complete the applicable mandatory online courses prior to signature of contract. The link to these courses will be provided during the selection process for the successful candidates.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

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.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org