International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies
Overall objective:
The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide support to the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) with short-term, focused microplanning and logistics technical assistance (TA) based on requests from national malaria programmes and partners. Specifically, this consultancy will be used to respond to time-limited and specific requests that cannot be met through the existing RBM Partnership to End Malaria mechanism for technical assistance deployment. This consultancy supports AMP’s vision of differentiated models of technical assistance and rapid response to meet identified needs. The consultancy also responds to increasing requests for improvements to microplanning, particularly since many insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaigns are combining household registration and ITN distribution in one single visit as part of COVID-19 adaptations (or maintaining a single-phase approach “post-pandemic” for other operational reasons).
Background:
While a significant reduction in malaria case incidence and mortality rates had been observed globally over the past 20 years, the 2021 World Malaria Report shows that progress has plateaued, stalled or reversed in many high-burden countries since 2019, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even before the emergence of COVID-19, global gains against malaria were levelling off, and the world was not on track to reach the 2020 milestones of WHO’s global malaria strategy. On a global scale, progress against malaria remains uneven. According to the report, many countries with a low burden of the disease are moving steadily towards the goal of malaria elimination. However, most countries with a high burden of the disease have suffered setbacks and are losing ground.[1]
According to the 2021 report, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases in 2020 compared to 227 million cases in 2019 – an increase of about 14 million cases. About 95% of all malaria cases were in the WHO African Region. The total number of malaria cases in 2020 is essentially the same as that reported in the year 2000. However, over this 20-year period, the population at risk of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa nearly doubled. Malaria case incidence, which reflects population growth, maintained a downward trend over the last 20 years – from 81.1 cases per 1000 population at risk in 2000 to 56.3 in 2019 and 59 in 2020.
An estimated 69 000 more people died from malaria in 2020 compared to 2019 (627 000 vs. 558 000). About two thirds (47 000) of the additional malaria deaths were due to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In sub- Saharan Africa there was an estimated 12% increase in malaria deaths in 2020 over 2019. This highlights the consequences of even moderate service disruptions to malaria services in a population at risk. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa showed a decline in outpatient attendance and malaria testing during the initial phase of the pandemic, and reductions generally coincided with peaks in COVID-19 transmission.
In terms of prevention, the 2021 World Malaria Report highlights that in 2020, 31 countries had planned campaigns to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and, of these:
- 18 countries (58%) completed their campaigns in 2020, with most experiencing important delays
- 13 countries (42%) had campaigns that were incomplete in 2020 and spilled over to 2021
Globally, about three quarters (72%) of all ITNs planned for distribution had been distributed by the end of 2020.
Coverage gaps are an important contributor to non-achievement of the WHO Global Technical Strategy targets, particularly in hard-to-reach, conflict-affected and marginalized communities. While expanded access to WHO-recommended malaria control interventions has played a critical role in reducing the global burden of the disease since 2000, a large proportion of the population at risk of malaria – particularly in the WHO African region – continues to lack access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a workstream within RBM and is an integral part of RBM’s Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC). AMP is a global partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations. Housed and chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AMP is 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 distributions; and (3) supporting national malaria programmes and partners to identify, address and document operational successes and challenges to meeting the WHO GTS targets for high coverage and use of ITNs.
In 2020, AMP undertook an evaluation of its effectiveness in providing technical assistance (TA) during the COVID-19 pandemic with a full transition to support by distance. The report concluded that AMP TA was critical for ensuring that ITN campaigns stayed on track in 2020, but identified a gap in options for TA to ensure that national malaria programmes and partners could receive rapid technical assistance for time-limited and specific areas without going through the existing RBM mechanism with its associated timelines for having a consultant in place.
Terms of reference for the consultancy:
It is expected that AMP will receive several requests for support for microplanning and logistics for 2022 and 2023 campaigns, many of which will be for a review of templates or other documents developed or for support to compile and review information received in microplans. The microplanning and logistics elements are tied, as the templates must be developed based on the overall campaign strategy (e.g. single-phase with household registration and ITN distribution simultaneously during a single door-to-door visit or more traditional two phase, with registration followed by a later distribution), as well as the logistics strategy, particularly for last-mile (micro micro) transport planning.
The importance of microplanning has increased in the COVID-19 context where many adapted campaign strategies do not include household registration as a separate phase of activity from the ITN distribution and thus national malaria programmes must ensure that microplans are as high quality and accurate as possible to avoid lateral movements of ITNs or ruptures in stock during campaign implementation. Additionally, there is increasing interest in the use of geospatial technology for mapping and inclusion of digitalization microplanning as a separate output, which will require adjustments to existing templates and tools in line with national malaria programme decisions about planned ITN campaigns.
The consultant will be engaged on a case-by-case basis as AMP receives requests for technical support for microplanning. The consultant may also be engaged on a short-term basis to review microplanning templates or tools under development by technical assistance teams providing country support for campaign planning. Deliverables will be defined for each specific request.
The consultant will track the hours and results achieved and the number of countries supported and provide regular updates to the Manager, Malaria Programs and the AMP Coordination Officer. The consultant will update the AMP TA tracking tool on a regular basis.
Project objectives and timelines:
Objective #1: To support national malaria programmes and partners with high-quality guidance and technical support to ensure achievement of ITN distribution objectives.
Desired outcomes: National malaria programmes and partners have high-quality guidance, tools and materials that they can use to improve the effectiveness and outcomes of the critical microplanning process.
Support to be provided to the consultant
The consultant will be supported by the Manager – Malaria Programmes and the AMP Coordination Officer.
Time allocation, for budget purposes
This budget is based on an estimate of 30 billable working days.
Compensation for the consultancy is based on a daily rate, with eight billable hours equaling one day for billing purposes.
No travel is associated with the consultancy.
The consultancy timeframe will be from July 1st, 2022 to December 31, 2022.
Language requirement
Fluency in English and French is required for this consultancy. Spanish or Portuguese would be assets.
[1] https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/malaria/world-malaria-reports/world-malaria-report-2021-global-briefing-kit-eng.pdf?sfvrsn=8e5e915_23&download=true
How to apply
To apply to this consultancy assignment, please send your resume and cover letter including daily rate to [email protected] by Wednesday 20th of July by COB. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.