Apply by: 24 Jul 2023
Number of Position: 01
Location: Karnataka
Title of the Consultancy: - Consultant, Maternal Health and PPTCT
DUTY STATION: Bangalore
DURATION OF CONSULTANCY: 24 months.
CLOSING DATE: 24th July, 2023
1. Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
About 55% of deliveries take place in the public health facilities in Karnataka State. It presents an opportunity to provide respectful and quality health care services at no cost and ensures complete and comprehensive care during pregnancy and childbirth. Hence, it is important to formulate a proper policy that not only promotes safe pregnancy, childbirth and immediate postpartum care with respect and dignity but also translates the entitlements into a service guarantee which is more meaningful for the beneficiaries. In recent years, the focus of quality of care and respectful maternity care has gained refocus and prioritization even at the highest political level in the country.
LaQshya initiative is a flagship program of government of India to ‘fast track’ attainment of quality of care standards for maternal and newborn care services across government health facilities in the country. Further, scale up of midwifery program is equally important to contribute to the quality care as well as improving normal births in the public sector. The purpose of the assignment is to fast track the quality initiatives for reducing preventable maternal, and newborn mortality. In this direction, technical support to the Government of Karnataka to facilitate key interventions in the thematic areas of Maternal Health and EVTHS in the state is needed. This is expected to be done through capacity building, development of responsive strategies, knowledge management, regular reviews and monitoring for fast tracking the achievement of SDG goals. The consultancy aims at consolidating the gains of past few years by integrating EVTHS into MNCH services with greater involvement of health systems in Mother-Baby tracking and tracking of cohorts who are lost/ not been followed up with adequate processes in place. The support will be catalytic to improve quality of Maternal Health and EVTHS interventions in the state of Karnataka
2.Scope of Work:
State has seen a drastic decline in the maternal mortality ratio from 108 in 2014-16 to 69 per 100,000 live births in 2018-20 while the infant mortality rate stands at 21 per 1000 live births (SRS). Further, the caesarean birth rates varied from about 10% in less-developed states such as Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bihar to well over the threshold of 15% in South India and other prosperous states. While Northeast India, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, recorded less than 10% of caesarean births, the South Indian state accounted for over 35% caesarean births, with an average of 46% for Karnataka State. While there is a decline in the mortality there is an urgent need for accelerating further decline in MMR and C-Section rate and quality improvement of services
New initiatives have been identified by the state for roll-out aiming at reduction of anemia among pregnant women which is at 45%, reduction of c-section rate in the government facilities reporting high c-section rate, monitoring the private sector through e-birth monitoring system, improvement in the quality of services through quality certifications and development and training in standard operating procedures on high risk protocols etc.
Further, India is committed to 'ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat” by 2030 in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The Government of India has reaffirmed this commitment at the United Nations General Assembly in June 2016 during the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AIDS, as well as at other platforms such as BRICS.
Achieving this goal will entail us to adopt the 'Fast-Track' targets, including the 95-95-95 targets, by 2030. However, it requires sustained commitment and action to address the scale of challenges ahead. The Government of India will also accord priority attention to eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV and Syphilis by 2030. India is one of the 22 Global Priority Countries which have to meet the two Global Plan targets for elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive. The Country is committed to Elimination of Parent to Child Transmission (EPTCT) of HIV and syphilis by 2030. Karnataka State is one of the 7 high priority states for EVTHS and the state has taken many steps in scaling of Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) with 472 facilities in public health sector and 408 in the private hospitals under the public private partnership (PPP) model and other private hospitals report the HIV indicators through HIV pulse (an app for reporting private sector data). Though the coverage is above 95% in HIV counseling and testing, the gap remains in initiating ART treatment to the identified positive pregnant women. With early diagnosis and appropriate interventions, the PTCT can be reduced to < 5% in breastfeeding population. UNICEF is committed to support the GOI in reduction of maternal and new born mortality through supporting the maternal, newborn and child health quality of care initiatives and adolescent health program implementation at national as well as State level. Much more needs to be done over the next 7 years for India to achieve the 2030 SDG targets.
UNICEF is already providing ongoing support for quality improvement of maternity services and is the knowledge partner for the state. Ongoing support includes LaQshya, Midwifery, High-risk management protocols and other key interventions to reduce maternal mortality. In order to implement key Maternal Health and PPTCT interventions under the National Health Mission in terms of strategic planning, identification of bottlenecks and facilitation of corrective actions and monitoring, capacity building and effective institutional coordination, UNICEF proposes to place a technical consultant with the Department of Health and Family Welfare in Karnataka.
Application Procedures:
Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.
Please forward your application to hyderabad.consultants@unicef.org by 12 noon on/or before 24.07.2023 with subject line “Consultant, Maternal Health and PPTCT for Karnataka ” in separate files:
Your online application should contain the following separate attachments
A Cover letter explaining the motivation for applying and also explaining how the qualifications and skill set of the candidate are suitable for this position (Not more than 1 page).
Curriculum Vitae – detailing qualifications and capturing relevant assignments.
Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from our website at http://unicef.in/P11form.doc
The GTC (General Terms and Condition) to be duly signed and submitted along with the application form.
A financial proposal in PDF format indicating the professional fee as per template attached. Please mention your name in the file name while saving. Please protect it with password we will send an official mail for the password only then please share the password.
Your application will not be considered if the application is not forwarded as per the process above.
Please submit your online application latest by 12 noon Indian Standard Time on or before 24.07.2023.
Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.
For any clarifications, please contact:
UNICEF
Supply & Procurement Section
317-A MLA Colony, Road No.12, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad-500 034.
