Overall objective:
The objective of the proposed work is to support AMP activities in reviewing and improving: (1) the effectiveness and efficiency of mass insecticide treated net (ITN) campaigns within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) approaches to distance-based technical assistance during COVID-19 pandemic.
The specific areas for support include:
§ Review AMP distance-based technical assistance for ITN campaigns provided during the COVID-19 pandemic
§ Assess the effectiveness of maintaining campaign timelines through distance support (against initial ITN campaign planning)
§ Review of key planning and implementation documents (reviewed in terms of availability, adaptations to COVID-19 and quality) to identify strategy changes made for the COVID-19 context
§ Key informant interviews and discussions to assess appropriateness of campaign changes to the COVID-19 context, challenges encountered and identify recommendations for future activities
§ Develop summary of lessons learned and possible areas of improvement
Background:
The past fifteen years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of malaria and progressing towards elimination. Between 2000 and 2015, global malaria incidence fell by 37 percent and mortality rates by 60 percent. Over 6.2 million deaths were averted, primarily among children less than five years of age. Since 1998, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM) has been central to the global fight against malaria. It has been essential to mobilizing unprecedented resources and supporting scale up of innovative interventions to put the world on a path of eliminating malaria.
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a workstream within RBM. AMP is a partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations. AMP is housed and chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
AMP is a global partnership focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in ITN campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementation of ITN distribution; and (3) supporting countries to identify, address and document operational successes and challenges to meeting the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets for high coverage and use of ITNs. Since AMP’s inception in 2004, the IFRC has housed the AMP secretariat, serving as an independent convening body for the AMP Partnership. Harnessing the global leadership and management systems of IFRC, AMP is uniquely positioned to support and advance country-level efforts to promote high-quality, high-impact, efficient distribution of ITNs to increase population access to nets in malaria endemic countries through both campaign and continuous distribution channels.
For over 15 years, AMP has cultivated strong relationships with National Malaria Control and Elimination Programmes (NMCP/NMEP) and with key technical, financial and implementing partners. Along with developing field-focused tools and operational guidance, AMP has established a globally recognized network of Technical Assistance (TA) Providers for planning and conducting ITN campaigns, covering strategy, training and capacity building, logistics, communication, and monitoring and evaluation. AMP is recognized as an essential global partnership platform and expert resource for developing, promoting, and conducting mass ITN campaigns and sharing best practices within the global malaria community and beyond. AMP is an integral part of the RBM’s Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC). The majority of funding for country-specific AMP technical assistance is provided through RBM.
Following WHO’s declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, international partners and national malaria programmes have raised concerns that malaria-endemic and epidemic-prone countries will experience increased risk of malaria morbidity and mortality should planned ITN campaigns be postponed or suspended. The suspension of ITN campaigns and the risk of low uptake of facility-based services for diagnostic testing and treatment during the pandemic could reverse decades of gains made against malaria. Additionally, these concerns come as gains in malaria control plateau due to gaps in funding and insecticide and drug resistance.
National malaria programmes are developing detailed plans to take into consideration the health and safety of health workers and communities. The fear and false information that typically circulate in epidemics must be identified and countered. Gender-sensitive approaches for ITN distribution must be developed, and tools for collecting ITN campaign data, whether paper-based or digitized, need to be revised and reassessed based on operational experience. The inability to deploy technical assistance in country for campaign planning and implementation during the pandemic, coupled with communities potentially rejecting ITNs and other health services and sub-optimal targeting of households not meeting the traditional household definition, all could lead to poor outcomes for ITN access and use despite significant investment.
To avoid unnecessary deaths from malaria during the pandemic, WHO declared that countries should continue to prioritize ITN distribution through planned campaigns and other channels. In response, AMP rapidly developed a set of recommendations and associated documents on ITN distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources continue to be added as the pandemic continues.
Terms of reference for consultancy:
· Conduct a review of AMP distance-based technical assistance for ITN campaigns provided during the COVID-19 pandemic (general – multi-country outside Nigeria)
· Support AMP in assessing the effectiveness of switching from field-based to distance support to countries and partners (multi-country and specific to Nigeria)
· Develop a summary of key strategy adaptations across technical areas for the COVID-19 context, including information from key informant interviews (specific to Nigeria)
Deliverables
· Report describing the changes related to the COVID-19 context across states implementing campaigns in 2020 (specific to Nigeria)
· Report describing successes, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for distance support, including what to modify and what to reinforce (globally)
Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy:
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP)’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2020 as it supports the achievement of strategic aims;
1) Save lives, protect livelihoods and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises
2) Enable healthy and safe living.
Objective #1: Scaling up and maintaining universal coverage targets of malaria prevention with ITNs through all available channels including mass distribution campaigns and continuous distribution channels.
Desired outcomes: To address some of the most critical challenges countries, partners, and TA providers face with new distance-based working modalities in planning and implementing mass ITN campaigns in COVID-19 pandemic context.
How to apply:
Please send your CV, Cover Letter and preferred daily fee by email to egle.aleknaite@ifrc.org by Monday, 2 November 18:00 (geneva time).