National expert to support scale-up of perinatal death surveillance and response system in the Republic of Uzbekistan

Contract

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Background

While a considerable reduction in under-five mortality recorded in Uzbekistan, 57% per cent of under-five deaths occur in the neonatal period, and the rate of early neonatal mortality has stalled at levels that are almost unchanged since the year 2000. Analysis of newborn survival rates across all weight groups has revealed an increase in survival of babies born with 500-999 grams of body weight from 14% in 2015 to 25% in 2018. A slight increase in survival is observed in the weight group of 1000-1499 grams from 55.5% to 59.2%. Survival in the weight group of 1500-2499 grams in 2018 exceeded 94%. However, this weight group has enormous potential for reducing neonatal mortality, as effective and affordable nursing technologies can save the lives of such newborns.

UNICEF partners with the Government of Uzbekistan on projects to improve the survival rate of newborns in the country, but measures to protect babies need a stronger focus if more lives are to be saved. UNICEF provides technical support to MoH in introduction of perinatal death surveillance and response to address avoidable factors identified through such reviews.

UNICEF supported the adaptation and implementation of perinatal audit last three years. The national team of experts established. 23 facilities started implementation of perinatal audit, more than 100 health care providers trained on the methodology. The supportive supervision (SS) guideline for perinatal death audit (PDA) is developed and scale-up. 14 facilities demonstrated acceptable audit quality. Supportive supervision visits helped teams develop a SMART recommendation to improve the quality of care to newborns.

In order to continue technical support to implement perinatal audit, to support scale-up of audit in new selected facilities and to build the capacity of national partners, the national expert will be recruited.

Objectives

The objective of the assignment is to build capacity of national partners and provide technical support to perinatal care institutions in implementation of perinatal death surveillance and response system and ensure monitoring oriented towards examining progress focused on results.

Timeline & Deliverables

Start day of the assignment: 1 May 2022

End day of the assignment: 31 December 2022

The selected consultant will be hired for 98 working days.

1. Support capacity building of health care providers on perinatal audit methodology. 5 perinatal centres - Training report - 16 working days, May-July 2022 2. Data collection from regions on PDA implementation and analysis - Data set (reports) on PDA implementation from perinatal facilities - 16 working days, May-December 2022 3. Development of MoH order with attachments on PDA - Draft order - 4 working days, June 2022 4. Jointly with representatives of national perinatal institutions conducting supportive supervision visits to 16 facilities started implementing perinatal audit. Coach national team (neonatologist, obstetrician-gynaecologist and nurse) on SS visits methodology -Supportive supervision reports with recommendations - 20 working days, May-October 2022 5. Monitoring visit to 10 trained facilities - Monitoring report with indicators - 20 working days, October-November 2022 6. Provide technical support to national partners to develop annual perinatal death surveillance and response report - National perinatal death surveillance report - 15 working days, November-December 2022 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 - 7 working days, December 2022

Total working days: 98

Methodology/Activities

1. Support capacity building of health care providers on perinatal audit methodology. 5 perinatal centers This task includes the following actions:

• Selection of co-facilitators from national partners;
• Co-facilitating 5 trainings for perinatal facilities (15 participants per training). Each training is 3 days;
• Preparation of training reports.

2. Data collection from regions on PDA implementation and analysis. Two days per month, during 8 months. This task includes the following actions:

• Develop reporting tool;
• Collect data from facilities implementing PDS;
• Coach national partners on data collection, analysis and feedback;
• Provide feedback to facilities implementing PDS based on submitted data.

3. Development of MoH order with attachments on PDA. This task includes the following actions:

• Discuss the order content with all interested partners;
• Draft order and attachments;
• Discuss with partners and based on provided feedback finalize order;
• Submit to partners the final order for future MoH approval.

4. Jointly with representatives of national perinatal institutions conduct supportive supervision visits to 16 facilities started implementation of perinatal audit. Coach national team (neonatologist, obstetrician-gynecologist and nurse) on SS visits methodology. This task includes the following actions:

• Support national team developing supportive supervision visits plan;
• Co-facilitate supportive supervision visits to 16 facilities;
• Guide national team on preparation of SS visit’s report.

5. Monitoring visit to 10 trained facilities. This task includes the following actions:

• Jointly with the national team, plan visits to all trained facilities;
• Co-facilitate 10 monitoring visits on perinatal death surveillance and response system;
• Prepare consolidated monitoring report.

6. Provide technical support to national partners to develop annual perinatal death surveillance and response report. This task includes the following actions:

• Couch national team on data analysis;
• Based on WHO recommendation and available perinatal death surveillance reports, guide national working group on drafting of the report;
• Facilitate discussion of drafted documents with national, regional and facility-level partners and representatives of UN organization;
• Ensure finalization of the report with lessons learned and recommendations based on feedback.

7. Provide support to the national team in preparation for a national meeting to present report findings, share experience, and develop future scale recommendations. Co-facilitate meeting with national partners. This task includes the following actions:

• Jointly with national team draft agenda of the national meeting;
• Provide technical support in the development of presentations and hand-outs;
• Co-facilitate national meeting;
• Prepare meeting report.

Management

The expert will work under the supervision of health and nutrition specialist in collaboration with national partners at national and regional levels. Travels will be scheduled in coordination with national partners and paid by UNICEF.

Resource requirements and payments

The final fees will be set up based on the “best value for money” principle.

Payments might be partially or fully withheld in case of unsatisfactory performance of duties or failure to provide the quality deliverables.

Note. The fees will be paid by bank transfer upon acceptance of deliverables.

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

1. University degree in health/ public Health, maternal, pediatric Health or other relevant fields 2. At least 5 years of progressive professional experiences in the field of mother, newborn and child health or Public Health 3. Proven 5-year experience of capacity building of health care providers 4. Proven 5-year experience of supportive supervision of MNCH programs implementation 5. At least five-year experience in implementation of activities focused on maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response system 6. Proven experience in technical support to MoH in adaptation and implementation of MCH programs 7. Good command of written Russian (Examination of a previous authentic written work in Russian) 8. Knowledge of English will be an asset (Examination of a previous authentic written work in English)

Procedures and Working Conditions

A consultant is expected to work from home but, on occasion, may have to work from the offices of UNICEF. The applicants shall be required to submit a statement of good health prior to commencement of work and take full responsibility for the accuracy of that statement. Consultants are not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance available to UN staff members. Travel expenses will be paid according to UNICEF rules and regulations.

Reservations

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines. UNICEF will reserve the copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without the prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

UNICEF undertakes no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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:

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.