Country: Kenya
Closing date: 01 Jan 2020
Background
When delivered twice a year to at least 80% of children aged 6 to 59 months in countries with high under five mortality and high rates of vitamin A deficiency, Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) can contribute to a reduction of U5M by up to 24%. For the last decades, VAS has mostly been delivered in Sub Saharan Africa using National Immunization Days (NiD) or Supplementary Immunization Activities (SiA) as a platform. These campaigns are primarily organised to deliver polio or measles vaccine and commonly reached >90% coverage. Vitamin A delivery is often “piggy-backed” on these campaigns because they target the same children and have received adequate external support to achieve high-coverage.
However, progress in immunization rates and the eradication of polio in most countries of SSA are leading to the phase out of these campaigns. Between 2016 and 2019, coverage of VAS dropped dramatically in SSA as many rounds of campaigns were cancelled and VAS was left without a dedicated delivery platform.
To ensure that VAS can be continued in countries where it is still needed, HKI and its partners have started supporting the integration of VAS into routine health systems and services. A promising solution to sustain high VAS coverage is integrating capsule delivery into existing community and/or facility platforms. Two examples of existing platforms for VAS include early child development centers in Kenya and reproductive health and nutrition services in Sierra Leone. In some other areas, community-health workers are tasked to distribute VAS.
It is important for countries to select the most appropriate platforms or services for VAS integration to maximize coverage; however, challenges exist. These include different age targeting (e.g. vaccinations target children <1 year where as VAS targets children 6 to 59 m), challenges of reaching children living far from a health facility, weak community outreach, and low quality and coverage of services. Consequently, when VAS is integrated into exsiting health services and platforms, coverage can be low.
Purpose of Consultancy:
HKI is commissioning a review of existing delivery platforms that offer the best chances of reaching high VAS coverage in various contexts.
Objectives of Consultancy:
The main objective of this consultancy is to develop guidance for countries on (i) selecting existing platforms for integrating VAS that are likely to achieve high coverage, and (ii) ways to integrate VAS into these promising platforms.
Specifically the consultant will:
· Conduct a literature and desk review to identify and map all platforms that could potentially reach children 6-59 months of age;
· Identify criteria and develop a checklist for existing delivery platforms into which VAS can be integrated and that are likely to achieve high coverage;
· Test this checklist in five (5) countries;
· Identify constraints related to the integration of VAS into each platform;
· Define the minimum standard required for VAS integration of each platform to reach coverage ≥80%;
· Develop a guide to help countries choose one or multiple platforms for VAS integration;
Deliverables, timeframe and level of effort
Literature & desk review: 10 days – February 2020
Checklist: 15 days – February 2020
Testing of checklist: 15 days – March 2020
Reporting on test: 5 days – April 2020
Final guide: 10 days – May 2020
Total level of effort: 50 days
Qualifications
Master of Public health of equivalent
Experience in conducting literature review
Experience in conducting similar field study
Good English writing capacity
How to apply:
Interested candidates should submit their application to kenya.recruitment@hki.org by latest 1 January 2020, indicating as a subject “Consultancy to provide guidance on selection of platforms for sustainable delivery of VAS” with a recent resume and a cover letter where daily fee expected and period of availability are clearly mentioned.