National Consultancy to support scale-up of Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System in Uzbekistan

Consultant Medical & Health Programme & Policy

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.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

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For every child, care

Mortality rate of newborns is considered important indicators of health and development in all countries, and the prevention of maternal, newborn, and child deaths is part of the Sustainable Development Goals declared by the United Nations.

The first month of life – the neonatal period – is the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival. Children face the highest risk of dying, with three-quarters of all neonatal deaths globally occurring in the first week of life . In Uzbekistan, 1 in 59 babies die in the neonatal period. More than 60% of all under-five deaths happen in the first month of life, highlighting the need for an intensified focus on care in the first days of life. Trends show that neonatal mortality in Uzbekistan is increasing - from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 17 per 1,000 live births in 2022 . According to UN IGME 2021, half of the 28 thousand neonatal deaths in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) occur in Turkiye, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The share of neonatal mortality in Uzbekistan within the EECA region is 21%, double the share of annual births .

While there is a general agreement that registration and surveillance of newborn deaths are needed to better understand the causes of perinatal deaths and to drive actions for mortality reduction, the reporting practices and their implications for health care providers on the facility level are not well known. That is why implementation of the Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response system, which was introduced by the WHO as a tool for understanding the causes of perinatal death, has received significant political commitment in Uzbekistan.

UNICEF supported adaptation and implementation of the Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System in Uzbekistan through establishment of the national team of experts, capacity building of health care providers, supportive supervision visits and further scale-up. UNICEF supported the incremental scale-up of national service quality standards by enhancing the capacity of 70 perinatal centres’ staff in implementing perinatal death audits (PDA). As a result, 28 of 227 maternities (12 per cent) fully implemented PDA.

To support scale-up of Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System in Uzbekistan in new targeted maternities and build the capacity of national partners, UNICEF Uzbekistan requires a National Individual Consultant, which will provide their support under the overall guidance of the Chief of Health and Development and the direct supervision of the Health Specialist.

Duration of assignment: 10 March – 31 December 2023.

Work Assignment/Deliverables/Timeline:

1. Facilitate trainings for the staff of 50 selected maternity hospitals across the country on data collection - Training report - March 2023 (15 days) 2. Provide technical support to the national counterpart in development of presentation for the webinar on PDA implementation experience - Presentation - March 2023 (5 days) 3. Facilitate trainings for the staff of 73 selected maternity hospitals across the country on implementation of the PDA; Facilitation of cross-visits by regional teams - Training eport - April-June (60 days) 4. Facilitate 2 supportive supervision visits per one maternity (50), trained in 2022, and 2 supportive supervision visits per one maternity (73), trained in 2023; Facilitation of cross-visits by regional teams - Supportive supervision report with recommendations - July-Oct 2023 (80 days) 5. Monitoring visits to 28 maternities - Monitoring Report with indicators - Nov 2023 (20 days) 6. Provide technical support to national partners to develop annual perinatal death surveillance and response report - Annual perinatal death surveillance and response report - Dec 2023 (10 days) 7. Provide support to national team in preparation to national meeting to present report findings, share experience and develop recommendations for the national scale-up plan. Co-facilitate meeting with national partners - Meeting report with lessons learned and recommendations for scale-up - Dec 2023 (10 days)

TOTAL: 200 days

Travel - At least one visit to each region.

Travel Plan

#

Regions

Travels Per Month (number)

Duration of Each Travel (days)

1

Andijan

1

2

2

Bukhara

1

2

3

Jizzakh

1

2

4

Kashkadarya

1

2

5

Navoiy

1

2

6

Namangan

1

2

7

Samarkand

1

2

8

Surkhandarya

1

2

9

Syrdarya

1

2

10

Tashkent region

1

2

11

Ferghana

1

2

12

Khorezm

1

2

13

Republic of Karakalpakstan

1

2

14

Tashkent city

1

2

The travel plan reflects minimum number of travels to the project sites based on which the individual should calculate the budget for the trips and include into price proposal in a separate line. In the event if number of travels will be more than planned, the incumbent will be required to obtain approval from supervisor and claim reimbursement upon presentment of trip report, hotel receipt and air/rail/roadway receipts.

Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) should not exceed UN established rates. For more details on UN DSA rates please follow the link: https://icsc.un.org/.

Payment:

Final rate shall follow the “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Consultants will be asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.

Payment of professional fees is made against approved deliverables and monthly workplans. Monthly payments will be made upon submission of a monthly report and invoice. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

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

• University degree in health/ public Health, maternal, pediatric health or other relevant fields.
• At least 5 years of progressive professional experiences in the field of mother, newborn and child health or Public Health
• Proven 5-year experience of capacity building of health care providers
• Proven 5-year experience of supportive supervision of MNCH programs implementation
• At least five-year experience in implementation of activities focused on maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response system
• Proven experience in technical support to MoH in adaptation and implementation of MCH programs
• Good command of written Russian
• Knowledge of English will be 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.

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org