A Consultant to Develop Guidelines for the implementation of Uganda HIV Case Based Surveillance (CBS) Program, Needed

Scope of Work for the Recruitment

Background to CBS:

Over the last 30 years of the HIV epidemic, Ministry of Health has relied on several HIV surveillance methods to monitor the HIV trend in the country. These methods provide aggregate data and thus the ministry has not been able to monitor clients’ linkage to HIV Care, individual progress of sentinel events of clients in HIV care cascade, and accurately estimate the incidence and prevalence. Furthermore, these methods are prone to multiple reporting of clients. READ MORE

To minimise these limitations,World Health Organization(WHO)recommended HIV case reporting in 2006 for adults and children in countries with generalised epidemics which involves longitudinally tracking each individual HIV positive client capturing their sentinel events in the HIV care cascade.

WHO is supporting Ministry of Health through the Makerere University School of Public Health Monitoring & Evaluation Technical Support (METS) program to conduct overall national readiness assessment for HIV Case Based Surveillance as well as developing national guidelines. In line with this support, METS is is seeking a consultant to (i) Conduct a CBS readiness assessment for the country to implement HIV Case Based Surveillance and (ii) Develop National Implementation Guidelines for HIV case Based Surveillance.

The readiness assessment will address the following objectives:-

1. i)  Assess the health system infrastructure available for implementation of HIV Case Based Surveillance, including electricity, internet connectivity, and human resource capacities available at health facilities.
2. ii)  Review current health policies, the policy environment, and processes relevant to policy formulation for HIV Case Based Surveillance.
3. iii)  Inform a communication strategy and materials for different audiences to support the positive environment and positive individual attitudes to the use of finger print technology as unique identifier in HIV Case BasedSurveillance.
4. iv)  Develop an advocacy strategy to achieve awareness and support for the implementation of HIV Case Based Surveillance

The guidelines will provide a standardised and simplified guide for the implementation of HIV Case Based Surveillance in the Country.

Approach and tasks:

The various approaches that will be utilized and tasks to be completed in the HIV Case based Surveillance readiness assessment and guidelines development include:
1. A comprehensive desk review of pertinent documents.

2. Designing or adopting a data collection tool detailing all the essential elements for HIV Case based surveillance readiness assessment.

3. Collection and analysis of data on the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from the facility, district, and ministry level to guide implementation of HIV Case Based surveillance in Uganda.

4. Recommendations for the implementation of HIV Case based Surveillance at National, district and facility level

5. Developing the national HIV Case Based Surveillance guidelines to support the implementation

Field work:

The assignment will include visits to selected health facilities, districts in

different regions of the country and ministry of health to collect data in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the HIV CBS Readiness assessment and guidelines development work plan. This activity is expected to be no longer than two weeks in duration.

Competencies required:

The Consultant should have an advanced degree (Master or PhD) in Public health, Epidemiology or other related disciplines and substantial experience in the following:

• Technical knowledge of familiarity with HIV programming in the health sector with a minimum of 10 years in Uganda or a similar environment
• Extensive understanding of HIV epidemiology and surveillance in Uganda  Excellent research skills both quantitative and qualitative
• Excellent understanding of Health management and information systems of Uganda
• A proven record of doing similar work in the past 5 years

Roles and Responsibilities:

The consultant will report to the National CBS technical working group comprising of WHO, Ministry of Health and METS.
The Consultant will work very closely with METS to complete this assignment. Any materials/documents required before embarking on the assignment will be the responsibility of the consultant.

Duration of the Consultancy:

This consultancy will run for 1 month and is expected to start on 18th September 2017

Overall expected outputs:

1. Consultancy proposal and work plan
2. First draft of the readiness assessment report
3. First draft of the guidelines
4. Content validation meeting aimed at refining the draft document based on inputs from the METS team and the National CBS technical working group.
5. Final CBS readiness assessment report
6. Final National HIV Case Based surveillance implementation guidelines.

Application process:

Interested firms and individuals are invited to apply by submitting the following application documents by 16th June 2017
i. Technical and financial proposal.
ii. Capability statement- detailing experience in conducting similar assignments,

along with supporting documents such as CVs and names of referees. iii. Detailed work plan.
iv. Detailed Budget proposal.

Interested firms/individuals should submit the above-mentioned documents as hard copies. The package should be labelled “Proposal to Develop National HIV Case Based Surveillance Implementation Guidelines for METS program” and delivered to the address below

Office of the Dean,
Makerere University School of Public health, New Mulago Hill Road, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala.

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