Overall objective:
The objective of the proposed work is to lead costing analyses focused on assessing the costs of COVID-19 adaptations for insecticide treated net (ITN) campaign distribution in selected countries. The costing analyses will identify the financial costs and key cost drivers associated with adaptations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead consultant will be responsible for defining the methodology that will be used, supporting the data compilation, leading the data analysis and ensuring that the outputs are clearly summarized and presented in a manner that they can be used for planning and budgeting of ITN campaign distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic moving forward.
The lead consultant will be responsible for ensuring that two pieces of work are completed at high quality:
1) Cost analysis of COVID-19 adaptations for Nigeria ITN campaigns implemented in 2020 during the pandemic
· An overall assessment of the campaign costs and identification of major cost drivers for the Benue and Adamawa campaigns adapted to the COVID-19 context.[1] A comparison of budgeted cost per net for previous ITN campaigns can be done against the 2020 adapted campaign approach.
· An overall assessment of the campaign costs and identification of major cost drivers for the Zamfara State integrated campaign (seasonal malaria chemoprevention [SMC] and ITNs) adapted to the COVID-19 context. A comparison of budgeted cost per net or cost per child for previous ITN and SMC campaigns can be done against the 2020 adapted, integrated campaign approach.
· An assessment specific to the Zamfara state campaign to look at cost-efficiencies gained, as well as any inefficiencies, through the integration of the SMC and ITN campaigns, including the major cost categories that drive cost increases or decreases. Cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency will be looked at vis-a-vis the campaign results.[2]
2) Cost analysis of COVID-19 adaptations in a selected number of additional countries
· An overall assessment of the campaign costs and identification of major cost drivers based on budgets from selected countries[3] related to COVID-19 adaptations for key campaign processes (macroplanning, microplanning, household mobilization, demand creation, ITN distribution, supervision and monitoring). A comparison of cost per net for previous campaigns and for the different adapted campaign approaches will be done as possible.
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 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 the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. 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 provides distance and in-country support to national malaria programmes and partners for mass ITN distribution campaigns as well as operational guidance on all aspects of ITN distribution. AMP works to coordinate the financial and technical resources of its members to support countries conducting mass and continuous distribution of millions of ITNs and works to resolve bottlenecks arising during planning and implementation of ITN campaigns. Its low-cost, action-orientated operational structure includes a Core Group of key partners overseeing AMP strategies, four working groups, and dozens of partners that volunteer their time and expertise. AMP partners have developed core technical competencies – planning/operations, logistics, monitoring and evaluation, social and behaviour change – to support ITN scale-up efforts.
ITN campaigns are most countries’ primary method of vector control and mode of malaria prevention. Ensuring that ITN campaigns are planned and implemented in a cost-effective and efficient manner is a priority for funding, technical and implementing partners. Additionally, national malaria programmes are looking for optimal means for ensuring sustained ITN access and use through different distribution channels to maintain progress against targets for ITN access and use. National malaria programmes and partners distributing ITNs look to AMP for planning and implementation support, which is provided through operational guidance documents accessed through the AMP website in addition to through technical assistance.
With the WHO declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, AMP focused on the development and dissemination of technical guidance and the provision of distance support for ITN mass campaigns. Over 25 countries accessed operational guidance and distance technical support from AMP to adapt ITN distribution strategies in 2020 in order to sustain gains achieved in the fight against malaria. The cost implications of the adapted strategies across different country contexts are not well understood but are important to assess for planning and implementation of future campaign distributions. AMP has been requested to assess the cost implications for COVID-19 adapted campaigns in an effort to facilitate planning and budgeting for campaigns in 2022 and 2023, which will likely still require adaptations based on the current timelines for vaccine roll out in most malaria-endemic countries.
The proposed work on costing of COVID-19 adaptations will require a lead consultant, responsible for the overall technical quality of the analysis and report, as well as a second consultant that will support on follow up on data access, data entry, etc. The lead consultant is expected to establish the workplan for the costing for Nigeria and other countries, identify the data and information required for the analysis, ensure quality control of data entry, undertake the data analysis and present the draft report within the consultancy timeframe to the selected countries for their inputs and comments prior to finalization.
Terms of reference:
(1) Nigeria-specific:
· Lead development and finalization of a document describing the methodology for assessing the cost implications of COVID-19 strategy adaptations in Benue and Adamawa states in Nigeria
· Lead development and finalization of a document describing the methodology for assessing the cost implications, as well as identify potential efficiencies and inefficiencies, of the integrated campaign (SMC, ITNs) in Zamfara state
· Provide the list of information to be collected and communicate it to the IFRC/AMP support persons who will lead on the data collection (with support from IFRC staff, as well as the Global Fund, the US President’s Malaria Initiative and other partners as needed) to be able to undertake the costing assessment
· Analyse the cost implications and cost drivers of COVID-19 adaptations for different campaign processes based on budgets and any other information received during the work (but not based on expenditure)
· Undertake a comparative analysis of the cost per net for campaign implementation pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19. The cost will be from budgets for ITN campaigns implemented pre and during COVID-19 from the selected countries.
· Present the findings of the report to the national malaria programmes in the countries selected for the costing analysis, including a summary of the methodology, results and recommendations
· Integrate feedback from national malaria programmes and partners and finalize report
(2) In selected countries:
· Lead development of a document describing the methodology for assessing the cost implications of strategy adaptations across different countries / contexts
· Provide the list of information to be collected and communicate it to the IFRC/AMP support persons who will lead on the data collection (with support from IFRC staff, national malaria programme and implementing partner staff, as well as the Global Fund, the US President’s Malaria Initiative and other partners as needed) to be able to undertake the costing assessment
· Analyse the cost implications and cost drivers of COVID-19 adaptations for different campaign processes based on budgets and any other information received during the work (but not based on expenditure)
· Undertake a comparative analysis of the cost per net for campaign implementation pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 as possible (depending on information and data provided by national malaria programmes and partners). The cost will be from budgets for ITN campaigns implemented pre and during COVID-19 from the selected countries
· Present the findings of the report to the national malaria programmes in the countries selected for the costing analysis, including a summary of the methodology, results and recommendations
· Integrate feedback from national malaria programmes and partners and finalize report
Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy:
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP)’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 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.
Project objectives and timelines:
Objective #1: To generate new evidence and best practices that will inform more efficient and effective ITN distributions, primarily but not exclusively through campaigns.
Desired outcomes: Increased availability of costing information related to COVID-19 adaptations to inform future campaign planning and budgeting.
Support to be provided to the consultant
The consultant will be supported by the Manager – Malaria Programme, Senior Officer – ITN Campaign Efficiency Project, and the AMP Coordinator.
Lead consultant requirements:
· PhD or MSc in epidemology or other relevant field
· Minimum of 10 years work experience on health economics, costing of health interventions or similar areas of work
· Demonstrated expertise in financial cost assessment for public health interventions
· Work experience in the malaria prevention and control sector with cost effectiveness and efficiency analysis experience as a plus
· Expertise in using data analysis and visualization software (STATA, SAS, QGIS, ArcGIS, Microsoft Office, ODK, EpiInfo, EpiData)
· Demonstrated supervisory experience
· Track record of publications related to costing of health interventions, preferably for malaria
Time allocation, for budget purposes
A total of 40 days are allocated to leading the planning, implementation, analysis and report on the COVID-19 campaign adaptation costing.
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions there will be no travel associated with this consultancy.
Compensation for distance support within the consultancy is based on a daily rate, with 8 billable hours equalling one day for billing purposes.
The consultancy timeframe will be from July 15th to December 31st, 2021.
Language requirement
Fluency in English and ability to read French is required for this consultancy.
Notes
· The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
[1] Note that separate costing work is taking place under the New Nets Project in Kwara and Osun states.
[2] Note that separate work is taking place to analyse and compare the data collected through end process monitoring during the 2020 campaigns and the previous campaigns in those states.
[3] Countries to be identified through discussion and based on where existing data is available and can be easily accessed, Global Fund priorities and where ITN campaign COVID-19 cost drivers were tracked in 2020. Priority will also be given to countries where existing comparative data may exist and where data is more easily accessed.
How to apply:
The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
Applications should include the following documents:
1. Curriculum Vitae
2. A cover letter summarizing your experience, suggested an approach to the work, your daily rate, and three professional references.
3. Daily rate in CHF
Interested candidates should send their CV, letter of interest, and daily consultancy rate in CHF (Swiss francs) to health.department@ifrc.org. Email subject: “ADD THE TITLE OF YOUR CONSULTANCY**"**
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there will be not travel associated with this consultancy. All work can be done from the consultants home location