VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT - CONSULTANT

WHO Rwanda in Collaboration with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) is inviting applicants from suitable qualified Rwandan Nationals to fill the following Consultancy:

Title: Senior Consultant to support design and implementation of Post-Introduction Evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines

Duty Station: Kigali

Date issue: 07/12/2022

Deadline: 20/12/2022

1.Background

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern the COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus which was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. As the disease spread over many countries in the world, WHO declared COVID-19 as pandemic on 11 March 2020. As the number of COVID-19 cases continued to raise despite the installation of prevention measures, WHO launched the Blueprint on   vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics for the development and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics and the first vaccines were provided the Emergency Use Listing authorization by December 2020

Rwanda confirmed the first case on 14 March 2020, and subsequent prevention measures including travel and mass gathering restriction, lockdowns, physical distancing, mask wearing, and hand washing were instituted.

Through COVAX, AVAT, and bilateral initiatives, Rwanda accessed to more than twenty million vaccine doses, and six types of vaccines including Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharma, Johnson and Johnson, and Sputnik were delivered through countrywide campaigns. As of 16 October 2022, 71.6% and 69.0% of the total population has received one and two doses respectively while 42.9% received a booster dose.

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2.Justification

Considering that COVID-19 vaccines were used to respond to COVID-19 pandemic, in a context of high threat emergency, the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines have required commitment and efforts from all levels of the health system and beyond to ensure vaccines and devices are timely procured, distributed, and delivered to the beneficiaries. The new strategies and approaches used may have brought changes and adaptations in the national immunization program. The comprehensive Post-Introduction Evaluation (cPIE) is implemented as part of monitoring and evaluation of new vaccine introduction and will document COVID-19 vaccines introduction process for emergency vaccination and changes which have occurred and impacted the immunization programme after the COVID-19 vaccines were introduced. Best practices and lessons learnt will be documented and areas for improvement identified to inform planning for further new vaccines introduction in the context of responding to emergencies and findings will inform strategies for COVID-19 vaccine integration in the routine immunization.

3.Objective of cPIE consultancy

The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine introduction and its impact on the immunization program in Rwanda. 

Specifically, the assignment is intending to: 

1.  Document the readiness and deployment activities that contributed to the success of COVID-19 vaccine introduction in Rwanda
2.  Identify problems challenges during the COVID-19 vaccine deployment and document mitigation strategies
3. Highlight lessons learned from the COVID-19 vaccine deployment to strengthen the overall national immunization system and services, specifically related to the vaccination of health workers, older adults, essential workers or persons with co-morbidities.
4. Inform recommendations to improve roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and integration, especially in terms of vaccination of phased-in target groups and strategies for booster vaccinations.
5. Document best practices and lessons learned for future vaccine deployments in response to pandemics

4.Organizational context

The consultant will work under the supervision of the WHO EPI Focal Point in collaboration with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC). The RBC will ensure communication with health facilities, support the identification of data collectors and monitor the field data collection.

5.Work assignment

 The consultant will be responsible for designing and implementation the COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness study.  In collaboration with WHO and RBC, the consultant will be tasked to:

1. Design PIE protocol and data collection tools
2. Facilitate training of data collectors
3. Organize and supervise data collection and analysis
4. Produce the preliminary PIE report
5. Organize and facilitate meeting to present the preliminary findings
6. Elaborate the final report and facilitate the dissemination workshop as required

6.Deliverables

The consultant is requested to deliver the following:

1. Submission of inception report which include the methodology and implementation timelines
2. PIE protocol and data collection tools developed and validated
3. Compilation, analysis of data, and submission of preliminary reports for review
4. Submission of final reports

The above-mentioned deliverables shall be produced over two months

7.Qualifications of the consultant

1. Education:

• Advanced University degree (Masters level or above) in Public Health or Epidemiology

2. Experience:

• Demonstrated experience of five years and above in designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research.
• Having good exposure to Rwanda immunization program
• Having conducted vaccine PIE in the past would be an asset

3. Skills

• Good communication and writing skills demonstrated by scientific publications
• Teamwork

3. How to apply

Interested candidates shall submit their CVs by email to afwcorw@who.int

4. Selection and contract signing

After analysis of CVs, WHO Rwanda will notify the selected candidate in writing and call for discussion followed by contract signing if fully agree. The work is expected to start immediately after contract signing.

Done at Kigali, 7^th December 2022

Dr Brian CHIROMBO

WHO Representative