International Consultant (Technical Assistance - Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission and Paediatric HIV), Freetown, Sierra Leone, 11.5 months (On-site)

Contract

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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.

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For every child, health

Please access UNICEF Sierra Leone information here and here

How can you make a difference?

Background

The overall objective of the national HIV prevention and control efforts is to reduce new infections, ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% are on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment attain viral suppression – UNAIDS 95-95-95 – as part of the global efforts to ‘END AIDS’ by 2030. Sierra Leone has made some progress towards achieving the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and Paediatric HIV targets. Despite these achievements, at an MTCT rate of 21.1% (UNAIDS Data 2022) against a target of less than 5%, the country is still far from eliminating MTCT of HIV. Only 78% of pregnant women needing ARVs received ARVs for PMTCT in 2021. The country has very poor Paediatric HIV indicators, with early infant diagnosis (EID) coverage at 6 weeks at an unacceptable low of 3.3% and antiretroviral therapy (ART) for children living with HIV at 13% in 2021.

For Sierra Leone, this will mean having a strong national health sector response at the core of the multi-sectoral response; and taking HIV out of isolation by ensuring that HIV is included in the national health sector recovery efforts and by building resilient and sustainable health systems, which are HIV sensitive. This will include providing national level technical assistance to improve policies, strategies and guidelines that are evidence-based and maximize the impact of the national EMTCT and Paediatric HIV programmes; monitor programmatic performance on the care cascade, diagnosis, enrolment to ART initiation, adherence, and retention in care; and submit recommendations on programmatic refinement.

Purpose and Objectives of the Consultancy

To provide technical support to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)/Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), the National AIDS Secretariat (NAS) and other stakeholders in Sierra Leone to strengthen the health sector response to EMTCT and Pediatric HIV in order to prevent and reduce new infections, reduce AIDS-related deaths and eliminate HIV related stigma & discrimination to reach ambitious national targets as stipulated in the Sierra Leone EMTCT of HIV and Paediatric HIV Strategic and Operational Plan 2021-2025 and National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV and AIDS 2021-2025. To support the integration of the EMTCT and Paediatric HIV Program into the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition and TB Platforms.

Specific Tasks of the Consultant

• Strategic & Operational Planning and Programme Management

- Support to strengthen leadership and management capacity for EMTCT and Paediatric HIV at national and district levels to deliver quality services.

- Recommend and support policy and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) changes in line with new global best practices/recommendations and support their implementation.

• Systems Strengthening and Capacity Building

- In line with WHO and national treatment guidelines, propose appropriate treatment regimens for Pediatric HIV along with systems for effective monitoring of treatment outcomes, resistance, and treatment failure.

- Facilitate the implementation of the new consolidated treatment guidelines.

- Facilitate integration of EMTCT and Paediatric HIV into RMNCAHN interventions across the continuum of care and at all levels of service delivery and communities, as well as integration into other important programmes.

- Strengthen supply chain system for EMTCT and Paediatric HIV programme. Identify and help resolve critical gaps for quantification, procurement, distribution / reverse logistics, cold chain maintenance, stock management and supply chain data management.

- Provide a broad overview of the laboratory situation in the country and its impact on the EMTCT and Paediatric HIV programme, particularly highlighting opportunities for improving coverage of EID and HIV testing among pregnant women.

• Support Data, Analytics & Operations Research

- Support and strengthen systems for Monitoring and Evaluation of EMTCT and Paediatric HIV services and promote the generation and use of information for evidence-based planning and decision making.

- Support strengthening of the data collection and visualization systems and build capacity on analysis and use of data on EMTCT and Paediatric HIV services including Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) data.

- Support coordinators to provide quarterly cascade analysis to be shared with MOHS and programme managers while supporting the use of national EMTCT and Paediatric HIV data for decision making.

- Facilitate the development of a prioritized operations research plan in EMTCT, EID and Paediatric HIV, and develop the capacity of the NACP in designing, implementing, evaluating, writing, and disseminating operations research findings.

- Support periodical gap analysis of the EMTCT cascade and Paediatric HIV services and propose strategies to address the gaps.

- Review, update and standardize M&E tools for EMTCT and Paediatric HIV services.

- Institutionalize systems to track and report EMTCT outcomes using cohort analysis.

Please make sure to access the comprehensive and detailed JD here: VA ToR - Intl Consultant (Paed EMCT and HIV).pdf

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

• Medical Degree from a recognized university with a postgraduate degree or equivalent in Public Health /Epidemiology or a related field.
• At least 8 years of experience in EMTCT and Pediatric HIV programme at national/subnational level.
• Practical experience in programme management and strategic plan development.
• At least 5 years international experience in working with UN and/or international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies.
• Clinical experience in EMTCT and Paediatric HIV treatment and care.
• Experience with key populations programming.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in HIV prevention and control programming and implementation.
• Proven experience in EMTCT and Pediatric HIV programme management at the country level.
• Knowledge of health systems strengthening and strategic planning at the national level.
• Ability to develop and facilitate the development of guidelines and effectively monitor progress in the use of guidelines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to cooperate and negotiate with technical and funding agencies and establish and manage relationships with government ministries, district local governments, national and district partners, service providers, communities, and other stakeholders.
• Experience with Global Fund proposal development, grant making and implementation processes.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to write and communicate clearly.
• Proficiency in use of computer software applications, including word processing, spreadsheet, and corporate software packages.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

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.