National Consultant to support the National Lung Hospital (WHO)

Call for Expressions of Interest and Proposal

#VN050 – Job Title: The National Consultant to support the National Lung Hospital to conduct an Epi-review to assess the trend of TB and situation of TB burden.

1. Background

Viet Nam is one of the high TB burden countries in the world with an estimated incidence of 176, and mortality of 9.8 per 100,000 population, respectively in 2019. Over the past years, Vietnam National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) had invested a lot of efforts to achieve the objective of declining 12% TB prevalence by 2020 (131 per 100.000 pop) and about 20% after 2025 to reach the prevalence of less than 20 per 100.000 pop in 2030. However, according to the new estimation from the results of the second prevalence survey in 2017, the TB prevalence rate among adult at all ages and all forms was at 316 per 100,000 population, and the incidence is 182 per 100,000 population that is much higher than the estimated of WHO of 129 per 100,000.

Viet Nam is facing huge challenge for ending TB by 2030, especially in the context of the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic that has reduced notification of TB by 23% in 2021 and expected to reverse the TB achievement back to 5-8 years as estimated by WHO. Therefore, the National Tuberculosis Program must gain much more investment and innovation interventions together with strong support of relevant sectors and international communities towards to achieving the goal of ending TB by 2030.

Vietnam NTP is implementing the NSP for the Elimination of Tuberculosis for the period 2021-2025, and activities under the support from Global Fund for the period 2021-2023. To support the NTP to conduct an Epi-review to assess the trend of TB, situation of TB burden, as well as updating the NSP to adjust the objective and indicators to match with new situation, WHO is hiring a short-term local consultant (STC) to facilitate this process. The results of Epi-review and update of the NSP will also support for the process of development of the new GF request for period 2024-2026.

2. Planned timelines

Start date: 1 Jan 2023
End date: 1 Mar 2023

3. Work to be performed

In consultation of NTP, WHO, and other partners, the consultant should carry out the following tasks:

Scope of work

Support analysing the situation of TB epidemiology to identify TB burden, trend of mortality, and TB incident, including identifying risk factors influencing the TB epidemiological trend
Status of implementation of key recommendations from previous epidemiological review
Support reviewing the TB surveillance system and reporting system
Assess performance of the current TB program and collective national response for TB control, including activities under regular GF support and other NTP routine activities
Review progress of specific area: TB detection and notification; laboratory system, TB treatment capacity, provision of the TB drug and logistic supply chain
Facilitate consultation workshops, support SWOT analysis to identify challenges, programmatic and financial gaps, enabling factors of the TB program for preparation of updating NSP for the next 5 years
Support the process of developing the new GF request for next period 2024-2026
Gather the inputs for the drafts (Epi review and NSP) and finalize the documents

Specific deliverables:

Monthly technical report to WHO which indicate the key activities, progress, challenges, and solutions
Final mission technical and financial report on result of epi-review and the updated NSP
Participated and facilitated workshops/meetings with other experts and local NTP staff to develop the GF request.

4. Specific requirements

a. Educational Qualifications

Essential: Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) on public health or related discipline from a recognized university.
Desirable: Training on TB

b. Experience:

Minimum 7 years of experience working in TB program.
Desirable: Experience on public health programme related planning, assessment, surveys, research, and disease surveillanc

c. Skills/knowledge: Knowledge on TB epidemiology, NSP on TB, analytical and presentation skill, and computer literacy

d. Language: Excellent spoken and written Vietnamese and English.

e. WHO competencies

Teamwork
Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
Communication
Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

5. Place of assignment: Hanoi

6. Medical clearance: The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work

7. Travel: NA.

Those who are interested can submit your most updated CV and application letter indicating post title and vacancy notice number by 09 November 2022 and should be addressed to: