Consultancy for In-depth analysis of Pediatric HIV case identification through Family Centered Approach Initiative in Mbeya Region Latest Consultancy UNICEF JOBS, 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.
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HIV epidemic control, including among children, remains a priority for the Government of Tanzania. UNICEF’s work is focusing on supporting the government achieve HIV prevention and treatment goals for children, adolescents, and women. However, whilst services to prevent vertical transmission of HIV and those aimed at providing care and treatment for children have been successfully scaled-up, many children remain unreached and undiagnosed, reflecting shortcomings in the continuum of care. Through this consultancy, UNICEF expects that systemic bottlenecks will be identified, defined and recommendations to improve early HIV detection and care among children are produced.
How can you make a difference?
To conduct an In-depth Analysis of the paediatric HIV cases identified during implementation of the Family Centred Approach (FCA) initiative in Mbeya DC and Rungwe DC in Mbeya Region. The main aim of this exercise is to identify systemic and household bottlenecks and factors related to delayed HIV case detection among children living with HIV in the two project districts. Latest Consultancy UNICEF JOBS
Scope Of Work
To reduce treatment gap among children, the Ministry of Health has developed an Acceleration Plan on Pediatric Case Identification that outlines priority interventions to locate and link children and Adolescents living with HIV. In contributing to advance these efforts, UNICEF Tanzania in collaboration with National Council of People living with HIV and AIDS (NACOPHA) and the Ministry of Health designed a community-based model termed Family Centered Approach (FCA). The FCA was implemented in two districts of Mbeya Region (10 wards in Mbeya DC and 10 wards in Rungwe DC) as a proof of concept that aimed to enhance pediatric case identification especially for the hard-to-reach communities and families. Implementation of the FCA consisted of various activities, salient ones being capacity building of district and facility managers, health workers, and HIV treatment advocates (TAs); and establishing a community-facility referral and linkage mechanism. TAs delivered a holistic package of services for children, including community awareness on HIV and pediatric HIV case identification and linkage; wellness checks (immunization status, Vitamin A supplementation and deworming); nutrition screening and growth monitoring; and COVID-19 awareness, through house-to-house visits. TAs also provided peer support to caregivers of CLHIV as well as supporting their retention in care and strengthening PLHIV community platforms.
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These interventions were interrelated and led to various achievements, key among them being more than 866 eligible children were reached, and their parents/caregivers consented for HIV testing, among whom 121 tested positive for HIV (Mbeya DC-95, Rungwe DC-26) representing a positivity rate of 14 percent which was much higher than most other testing modalities at the time. All children identified through this platform were linked to and subsequently initiated on HIV care and treatment services.
The FCA’s success in identifying 121 previously undiagnosed CLHIV and linking them to care offers the opportunity to better understand the gaps and bottlenecks to HIV case identification and treatment in these two high burden districts of Mbeya region. UNICEF is therefore seeking the services of an individual consultant to undertake an in-depth analysis of children identified during implementation of the FCA to identify key bottlenecks at individual, household, community, social and health system related to delayed HIV case detection among children. The findings will be useful to inform the design of innovative strategies that will enhance systematic early identification of CLHIV and foster linkage to treatment among children living with HIV.
Specific Objectives
To document characteristics of CLHIV identified through the FCA programme. To identify health system and household factors related to early or delayed HIV case identification among CLHIV To explore critical pathways in the FCA model that contributed to identifying previously undiagnosed CLHIV Propose key recommendations to inform programming Latest Consultancy UNICEF JOBS
Expected Outputs/deliverables
Cleaned and analyzed data set on the newly diagnosed CLHI,Research report on bottlenecks pertaining to early HIV case identification among children Documentation of elements of FCA programme that contributed to HIV case identification including case studies, human interest stories and photos where possible Recommendations for improving pediatric case identification related to health system, individual, household, and socioeconomic factors Recommendations to strengthen and scale the FCA programme
Tasks To Be Completed by Consultant
- Undertake desk review relevant for the assignment. (Additional details on FCA implementation will be provided)ii. Develop an inception report with detailed plan of action outlining detailed approaches and timelines for the assignment
- Develop and produce a full study protocol with data collection tools to obtain ethical approval from recommended Institutional Review Board (IRB)iv. Facilitate ethical approval for the study from a relevant Institutional Review Boardv. Lead data collection and community engagement in the field
- Adhere to data confidentiality throughout the procesvii. Undertake robust data analysis using acceptable quantitative and qualitative analytical methods as may be appropriat
- Develop and produce draft narrative report of the in-depth analysis containing key findings from the field, including selected human-interest stories, specific case studies describing how and where the gaps are.
- Produce final consultancy report with final versions of the narrative report, human interest stories, case studies and power point slides.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- Advance degree (Masters’) in Healthcare (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, or other Biomedical Sciences), Public Health, Social Science, Health system
- At least 8 years’ experience working in the health sector
- Experience working with communities, CSOs, key and vulnerable population groups in HIV response in Tanzania and Africa. Latest Consultancy UNICEF JOBS
- Demonstrated understanding of the health system along the continuum of care for HIV services
- Excellent problem‐solving skills and ability to work within tight deadlines.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and adhering to deadlines
- Solid understanding and proven track record of conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Experience of conducting verbal and social autopsy study methodologies will be an asset
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Ability to work with a multidisciplinary teams
- Evidence of at least (3) consultancies of similar scope
- Fluency in written and spoken English
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