National Consultancy to conduct rapid assessment of barriers and factors to low HIV testing among children and adolescents , Kigali-Rwanda, 3 months (For Rwandans Only) 67 views0 applications


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,

How can you make a difference?

Background and Justification

Rwanda has made considerable progress in responding to the HIV epidemic, more especially in the elimination of mother to child transmission (EMTCT), keeping children and their mothers alive and healthy. Programs such as Option B+ which started in 2012, where the pregnant woman receives lifelong ART and the infant receives prophylaxis at birth have been well established. Consequently, the national programme for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) has reached near universal coverage (91%), and the uptake of maternal antiretroviral therapy is estimated to be at as high as 95%. As a result, the rate of MTCT has been reduced to below 2% in program settings during the last three years, putting Rwanda in the forefront to be the first country in Africa to achieve full elimination, provided gaps in quality of care are identified and addressed.

However, there remains a significant gap in the coverage of ART in children and adolescents living with HIV. According to the 2017 spectrum estimates data (published in 2018), nearly 1,500 children aged 0-14 were estimated to be newly infected with HIV and of these, less than 50% were initiated on ART. There are concerns regarding the quality of data and service, however, more significantly are questions regarding barriers to early identification and initiation onto antiretroviral treatment (ART), care and support, including adherence to treatment. Some HIV infected children are identified late through provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC) or vaccination program. The characteristics and exact geographical locations of these children and their mothers are either not well known or not adequately documented, hence the challenges in designing tailored models of care.

The recent analysis of routine ART data (HMIS) from period ÂJanuary 2018 to March 2019 revealed two very important findings as follows:

  • Significantly higher numbers of children living with HIV were newly identified and initiated onto ART very late in life. The barriers to early identification and ART initiation, as well as characteristics of these children are not adequately documented. There are also questions regarding the quality of PMTCT and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services offered at health facility and community levels, especially during the postnatal period. Other concerns are related to the functionality of existing mechanisms to link HIV infected children to early treatment and care
  • The number of new ART initiations in adolescent girls was six times more than boys in the same age category. While the biological factors may be well understood, the associated influential factors (social, cultural, economic) that put adolescent girls more at risk of acquiring new HIV infections in the Rwandan context are not well known and not fully and adequately documented. There is also a need to obtain a deeper understanding of the associated barriers that prevent adolescents, particularly boys, from accessing HIV testing and early treatment services. The low levels of retention in care, adherence to ART and viral load suppression among adolescents living with HIV is also of significant concern. Qualitative information to understand reasons for low adherence to ART and viral load suppression is not sufficiently documented, hence the challenges in designing appropriate interventions and models of care that respond to the needs of adolescent boys and girls living with HIV

Purpose

It is with this background that RBC in partnership with UNICEF is looking for specialist consultancy services to provide technical and expert support to conduct a scientific rapid assessment to obtain a deeper understanding of the field barriers and associated influential factors which hinder early and quality HIV testing, antiretroviral treatment initiation and adherence Âfor children and adolescents.. The findings and technical recommendations from this exercise will help to guide ongoing and future design and development of improved and tailored models of care, treatment and support services for children and adolescents.

Objectives and tasks

  • Develop scientific assessment protocol, data collection and analysis tools, facilitate ethical review and clearance process (protocol, data tools, ethical clearance)
  • Gather quantitative and qualitative information from the field including conducting interim analyses and report synthesis (interim desktop and field analytical reports)
  • Produce a scientific manuscript with quantitative and qualitative analytics, including outlining technical recommendations to help guide design and development of a tailored model of HIV care for children and adolescents (scientific manuscript)

Work relationships:

The consultancy involves working closely with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and the UNICEF technical teams

Outputs and deliverables

Deliverables

Duration(Estimated # of days or months)

Timeline/Deadline

Schedule of payment

Inception report with outline of plan for meeting the deliverables during the consultancy period including a narrative reporting template completed

Research protocol, data collation and dummy analytical data tools completed, ethical clearance obtained

Dummy data and narrative report completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 1

End of Month 1

Map of sites with high numbers of children and adolescents initiated on ART

Data templates completed with preliminary desktop and field level information

Desktop and interim field study analytical reports completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 2

End of Month 2

Scientific manuscript of quantitative and qualitative results, and technical recommendations completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 3

End of Month 3

Evaluation Criteria

The Technical proposal is weighted at 75% and 25% for the Financial proposal.

Please note that the final remuneration will be negotiated by HR.

Payment Schedule

Payment is linked to agreed deliverables upon satisfactory completion and certification of deliverables by the supervisor.

General Conditions: Procedures & Logistics

  • The consultant will work on his or her own computer(s) and use own office resources and materials in the execution of this assignment. The consultant fees shall be inclusive of all office administrative costs

During the consultancy period the consultant will cover his/her transport cost in Kigali, and at the request of the supervisor, UNICEF shall provide the consultant with transport for field visits. For Field Trip, the consultant will be reimbursed the living allowances on field pegged at the applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates for any location, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

  • and based on a submitted voucher/claim approved by the supervisor.
  • The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

As per UNICEF procedure on consultants and individual contractors, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.

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

Education: An individual with any of the following: postgraduate degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, social and allied sciences

Relevant work experience: a minimum of five year’s experience in the public health sector

Technical Competencies: The individual must have ability and deep understanding of the HIV programmes in the public health sector, with demonstrable experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods. An understanding of the Rwandan public health system, with its different levels of health care service delivery, including community, is an added advantage.

Languages needed: English. Working knowledge of the languages spoken in Rwanda (French and Kinyarwanda) is an added advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

How to Apply

UNICEF is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well qualified candidates, particularly females are strongly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates should send their complete Personal History (P11) form, which can be downloaded form (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc) or a CV/resume, as well as a cover letter explaining what makes them suitable for this consultancy.

Qualified and experienced candidates are requested to submit a letter of interest including a Technical Proposal outlining a road map for review and implementation timeline. In their letter of interest, candidates should highlight their previous work experience relevant to the assignment, the attributes that make them suitable, their proposed approach to the assignment.

The Selected candidates will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal outlining the total costs for this consultancy with payment linked to the main deliverables outlined above.

Remarks:

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

How to apply:

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.

More Information

  • Job City Kigali
  • This job has expired!
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UNICEF is a leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education.

UNICEF has spent nearly 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Working with and for children through adolescence and into adulthood requires a global presence whose goal is to produce results and monitor their effects. UNICEF also lobbies and partners with leaders, thinkers and policy makers to help all children realize their rights—especially the most disadvantaged.

The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations (UN) programme headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is one of the members of the United Nations Development Group and its executive committee.

UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. The Polish physician Ludwik Rajchman is widely regarded as the founder of UNICEF and served as its first chairman from 1946. On Rajchman's suggestion, the American Maurice Pate was appointed its first executive director, serving from 1947 until his death in 1965. In 1953, UNICEF's mandate was extended to address the needs of children in the developing world and became a permanent part of the United Nations System. At that time, the words "international" and "emergency" were dropped from the organization's name, making it simply the United Nations Children's Fund, or popularly known as "UNICEF".

UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors, UNICEF's total income for 2008 was US$3,372,540,239. Governments contribute two-thirds of the organization's resources. Private groups and some six million individuals contribute the rest through national committees. It is estimated that 92 per cent of UNICEF revenue is distributed to programme services.UNICEF's programmes emphasize developing community-level services to promote the health and well-being of children. UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 and the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord in 2006.

Most of UNICEF's work is in the field, with staff in over 190 countries and territories. More than 200 country offices carry out UNICEF's mission through programmes developed with host governments. Seven regional offices provide technical assistance to country offices as needed.

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0 USD Kigali CF 3201 Abc road Contract , 40 hours per week United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

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,

How can you make a difference?

Background and Justification

Rwanda has made considerable progress in responding to the HIV epidemic, more especially in the elimination of mother to child transmission (EMTCT), keeping children and their mothers alive and healthy. Programs such as Option B+ which started in 2012, where the pregnant woman receives lifelong ART and the infant receives prophylaxis at birth have been well established. Consequently, the national programme for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) has reached near universal coverage (91%), and the uptake of maternal antiretroviral therapy is estimated to be at as high as 95%. As a result, the rate of MTCT has been reduced to below 2% in program settings during the last three years, putting Rwanda in the forefront to be the first country in Africa to achieve full elimination, provided gaps in quality of care are identified and addressed.

However, there remains a significant gap in the coverage of ART in children and adolescents living with HIV. According to the 2017 spectrum estimates data (published in 2018), nearly 1,500 children aged 0-14 were estimated to be newly infected with HIV and of these, less than 50% were initiated on ART. There are concerns regarding the quality of data and service, however, more significantly are questions regarding barriers to early identification and initiation onto antiretroviral treatment (ART), care and support, including adherence to treatment. Some HIV infected children are identified late through provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC) or vaccination program. The characteristics and exact geographical locations of these children and their mothers are either not well known or not adequately documented, hence the challenges in designing tailored models of care.

The recent analysis of routine ART data (HMIS) from period ÂJanuary 2018 to March 2019 revealed two very important findings as follows:

  • Significantly higher numbers of children living with HIV were newly identified and initiated onto ART very late in life. The barriers to early identification and ART initiation, as well as characteristics of these children are not adequately documented. There are also questions regarding the quality of PMTCT and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services offered at health facility and community levels, especially during the postnatal period. Other concerns are related to the functionality of existing mechanisms to link HIV infected children to early treatment and care
  • The number of new ART initiations in adolescent girls was six times more than boys in the same age category. While the biological factors may be well understood, the associated influential factors (social, cultural, economic) that put adolescent girls more at risk of acquiring new HIV infections in the Rwandan context are not well known and not fully and adequately documented. There is also a need to obtain a deeper understanding of the associated barriers that prevent adolescents, particularly boys, from accessing HIV testing and early treatment services. The low levels of retention in care, adherence to ART and viral load suppression among adolescents living with HIV is also of significant concern. Qualitative information to understand reasons for low adherence to ART and viral load suppression is not sufficiently documented, hence the challenges in designing appropriate interventions and models of care that respond to the needs of adolescent boys and girls living with HIV

Purpose

It is with this background that RBC in partnership with UNICEF is looking for specialist consultancy services to provide technical and expert support to conduct a scientific rapid assessment to obtain a deeper understanding of the field barriers and associated influential factors which hinder early and quality HIV testing, antiretroviral treatment initiation and adherence Âfor children and adolescents.. The findings and technical recommendations from this exercise will help to guide ongoing and future design and development of improved and tailored models of care, treatment and support services for children and adolescents.

Objectives and tasks

  • Develop scientific assessment protocol, data collection and analysis tools, facilitate ethical review and clearance process (protocol, data tools, ethical clearance)
  • Gather quantitative and qualitative information from the field including conducting interim analyses and report synthesis (interim desktop and field analytical reports)
  • Produce a scientific manuscript with quantitative and qualitative analytics, including outlining technical recommendations to help guide design and development of a tailored model of HIV care for children and adolescents (scientific manuscript)

Work relationships:

The consultancy involves working closely with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and the UNICEF technical teams

Outputs and deliverables

Deliverables

Duration(Estimated # of days or months)

Timeline/Deadline

Schedule of payment

Inception report with outline of plan for meeting the deliverables during the consultancy period including a narrative reporting template completed

Research protocol, data collation and dummy analytical data tools completed, ethical clearance obtained

Dummy data and narrative report completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 1

End of Month 1

Map of sites with high numbers of children and adolescents initiated on ART

Data templates completed with preliminary desktop and field level information

Desktop and interim field study analytical reports completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 2

End of Month 2

Scientific manuscript of quantitative and qualitative results, and technical recommendations completed

30 days/1 Month

Month 3

End of Month 3

Evaluation Criteria

The Technical proposal is weighted at 75% and 25% for the Financial proposal.

Please note that the final remuneration will be negotiated by HR.

Payment Schedule

Payment is linked to agreed deliverables upon satisfactory completion and certification of deliverables by the supervisor.

General Conditions: Procedures & Logistics

  • The consultant will work on his or her own computer(s) and use own office resources and materials in the execution of this assignment. The consultant fees shall be inclusive of all office administrative costs

During the consultancy period the consultant will cover his/her transport cost in Kigali, and at the request of the supervisor, UNICEF shall provide the consultant with transport for field visits. For Field Trip, the consultant will be reimbursed the living allowances on field pegged at the applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates for any location, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

  • and based on a submitted voucher/claim approved by the supervisor.
  • The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF's General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

As per UNICEF procedure on consultants and individual contractors, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.

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

Education: An individual with any of the following: postgraduate degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, social and allied sciences

Relevant work experience: a minimum of five year's experience in the public health sector

Technical Competencies: The individual must have ability and deep understanding of the HIV programmes in the public health sector, with demonstrable experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods. An understanding of the Rwandan public health system, with its different levels of health care service delivery, including community, is an added advantage.

Languages needed: English. Working knowledge of the languages spoken in Rwanda (French and Kinyarwanda) is an added advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

How to Apply

UNICEF is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well qualified candidates, particularly females are strongly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates should send their complete Personal History (P11) form, which can be downloaded form (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc) or a CV/resume, as well as a cover letter explaining what makes them suitable for this consultancy.

Qualified and experienced candidates are requested to submit a letter of interest including a Technical Proposal outlining a road map for review and implementation timeline. In their letter of interest, candidates should highlight their previous work experience relevant to the assignment, the attributes that make them suitable, their proposed approach to the assignment.

The Selected candidates will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal outlining the total costs for this consultancy with payment linked to the main deliverables outlined above.

Remarks:

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

How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.
2019-07-03

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