National Consultant for improving Health management information system in the field of maternal and child health in the context of Covid-19 in Tajikistan

1. Purpose of the Position

The WHO CO TJK is seeking a national consultant to accelerate and facilitate the above-mentioned activities in Tajikistan and support to strengthen the coordination capacity of WHO CO to maximize the collective capacities of HIS at national, regional and district levels. For this purpose, WHO/CO TJK is providing support in the following directions: 1. Conducting a Health Information System assessment on existing data-management systems in Tajikistan and providing specific recommendations for improvements on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health. 2. Upgrading the reporting of final indicators for inpatient and outpatient maternal and child health services. 3. Improving the national capacity on Health Information System from the perspective of maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health services. 4. Technical support to HIS country mission through joint desk-review, meeting with national and international stakeholders and Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Ministry of Economics, Statistics Committee and others 5. Assisting WHO in unification of HMIS approach among UN and development partners. 6. Assist HIS WHO mission in preparation of the technical workshops scheduled for 30th of September

2. Organizational context

The timely, actionable and high-quality health information is an integral part of a well-functioning and responsive national health system. The importance of such a health information system (HIS) is particularly evident in emergency situations such as COVID-19 when the effectiveness of countries’ response is highly dependent on the proper preparedness of the health system including health information systems. The HIS in Tajikistan is fragmented, largely paper-based, lacking e-component and its content (data and final indicators) is of questionable quality; international standards for classification and coding are not universally observed, and the governance structure and capacity for health analysis, reporting and e-Health is unclear. The Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Republic of Tajikistan, recognized these challenges and requested the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) for health information system strengthening. With the recent challenges and hardships caused by the COVID-19, the MOH requested WHO’s support for strengthening the health information system for maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health services including building local capacity for improved data collection, management and reporting as well as evidence-based decision making.

3. Description of duties

The overall objective of this assignment is to strengthen the health information system considering the COVID-19 pandemic and in line with the local needs of the country defined by HIS focal point from the Ministry of Health. This includes the following activities in relation to the multi-fold directions specified above: 1. For the data management system of the maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services in Tajikistan: a. To participate in a session facilitated by the international consultants on the topic of the Health Information System assessment and methodologies of data collection for the given assessment. b. Together with the international experts and national specialist for data collection, develop a list of stakeholders to be included in the Health Information System study as key informants. c. Together with the international experts, develop an action plan for data-collection. d. Lead the data collection process according to the plan and help the local specialist to access the identified stakeholders.

2. Assess the need to carry out ICD-10 trainings across Tajikistan with emphasis on COVID-19 emergency coding guidelines. 3. Closely collaborate with a team of international experts working on the development of a subset of health indicators including for COVID-19 indicators and a dashboard for improved analysis and reporting of health information on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in the context of COVID-19 in Tajikistan. Provide feedback to the draft subset of indicators and to the draft dashboard to ensure the reporting requirements are met. 4. Identify the potential participants for the European Health Information Initiative Training: https://www.euro.who.int/en/data-and-evidence/european-health-information-initiative-ehii 5. Identify the potential participants for evidence-informed Policy Network: https://www.euro.who.int/en/data-and-evidence/evidence-informed-policy-making/evidence-informed-policy-network-evipnet trainings

Final deliverables include: 1. List of stakeholders to be included in the situational analysis as key-informants (to be delivered by 29 August 2021). 2. Plan of data collection for Health Information System assessment in Russian and if possible, in English (to be delivered by 31 August 2021). 3. Technical Report on collected data including interview transcripts, screenshots of pictures, forms, databases, etc in English and/or Russian (to be delivered by 10 October 2021). 4. Feedback provided to the draft subset of indicators and to the draft dashboard (to be delivered by 30 November 2021)

The specialist will work in close collaboration with WHO NPO Reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and Child and Adolescent Health Programme Coordinator based in Regional Office under the overall supervision of Health Information System Technical Officer, based in WHO Regional Office for Europe, Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, Unit of Data, Metrics and Analytics, as well as WHO CO WR in Tajikistan.

4. Recruitment Profile

Functional Knowledge and Skills

Essential: Functional expertise in analytical thinking, skills in computer sciences and using of statistics software in the field of Public Health. Expertise in creating efficient solutions to health problems through improvement of health data quality, reporting and timeliness.

Desirable: Knowledge of government, private, and non-profit health statistics management and organization. Skills facilitating statistics sessions to improve health care

Education Qualifications

Essential: University degree in medicine and/or postgraduate training in medicine and public health

Experience

Essential: o At least 10-years of experience in health systems including statistics and data management. o Of which, at least 5-years of work experience in the MOH in the managerial position. o Experience of collaboration with the WHO or other international health agencies. o Perfect knowledge of health information system in the country within and beyond the MOH.

Desirable: o Good leadership, communication, planning and analytical skills. o Understanding of challenges and opportunities of the health system in Tajikistan.

Languages

Essential: Expert knowledge of Tajik and Russian

Desirable: Knowledge of English

5. Contract duration

Fifty five (55) days for the period of August 25 to November 30 2021.

6. Location ( please also specify if it is offsite or onsite)

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

7. Travel ( please specify if travel is involved)

Within the Republic of Tajikistan.

8. Remuneration and budget (travel costs excluded)

55 days at US$ 100 per day (at Specialist level) for a total of US5,500. Daily rate is in line with the IC Guidance Note on UN local Consultants/Contractors’ rates.

9. Work schedule/Duration of contract

Less than six months

10. 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. • 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.