Background & Rationale
Timely, complete, and accurate data from civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) and functioning health management information systems (HMIS) form the foundation for appropriate decision-making regarding policies, financing and service delivery for health and protection programmes for children. CRVS is essential for effective governance and, with HMIS, has significant implications for the provision of population estimates, birth and death rates, and projections to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate maternal, newborn and child health services and other services for children.
UNICEF’s Birth Registration for Maternal and Child Health (BR4MNCH) Initiative, funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC), seeks to enhance newborn and child health and protection through improved and inter-operable HMIS and CRVS systems, with a particular focus on improved community health information systems, birth registration and innovations, in four high mortality and low birth registration countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, and South Sudan. It responds directly to ongoing government initiatives to improve CRVS systems and accountability for women’s and children’s health, as detailed in government plans and policies, and builds on previous good practice initiatives to link health service delivery and birth registration.
The overall aim of the BR4MNCH initiative is to
(1) Contribute to improved maternal, newborn, and child well-being and protection though an increased percentage of children ages 0 to 59 months that are registered in a functioning CRVS system;
(2) Improve use of health information for maternal, newborn and child health for operational planning and accountability, with an emphasis on community-based information; and
(3) Improve interoperability between CRVS and Health Systems.
The 3rd aim addressing interoperability will be the focus of this consultancy. There is a paucity of literature on health system and CRVS interoperability and the current landscape of health and CRVS interoperability in UNICEF programme countries is also not collated in a manner which would be useful for Health and Child
Protection officials to target resources to enhance interoperability. There is also a need for identifying best practices in health and CRVS interoperability across the continuum of care for sharing across countries within any future programming and as an update to interoperability discussions in the UNICEF documents:
Working Paper on Health and Birth Registration integration published in 2010 http://www.unicef.org/protection/Birth_Registration_Working_Paper(2).pdf, and
The Passport to Protection Handbook on Birth Registration published in 2013. http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/UNICEF_Birth_Registration_Handboo…
The Strengthening and Modernizing CRVS Systems Through Innovative Approaches in The Health Sector technical meeting sponsored by WHO in coordination with Canada, UNICEF, USAID, and the World Bank (December 2013) defined four core principles that should guide health sector actions to improve CRVS systems:
Health sector and CRVS interactions are based on principles of mutuality and partnership and supportive of country ownership and leadership.
Modern CRVS systems are strengthened by innovations in tracking maternal, newborn and child health.
There is complete and timely reporting of deaths, including reliable recording of causes of death.
Health sector activities contribute to improved vital statistics for policy and programming
It also identified that the health sector can contribute to CRVS strengthening in four main areas:
Contributing to system-wide development of CRVS.
Introducing innovations in tracking maternal, newborn and child health.
Reporting and reliably recording causes of death.
Compiling, analysing and disseminating vital statistics for policy and programming.
In addition beyond the above contributions of health to CRVS, it is also recognized that data and analysis from CRVS help the Health Sector to improve policy and planning, including vital statistics and cause of death information.
Since the December 2013 technical consultation, partners have accelerated testing innovative CRVS-Health Systems interoperability programmes with UNICEF, WHO, WB and CDC all leading a variety of projects in Africa and Asia. In addition, birth and death registration have become a focus for both donors (Canada, BMGF, Bloomberg, GAVI, GFF) and the global community with the inclusion of birth registration targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related MNCH initiatives such as Every Mother, Every Newborn.
Building CRVS Systems through the Continuum of Care
An important aspect of building CRVS systems is ensuring health information and notifications are received for births and deaths. One of the important systems which records these events is the ‘Continuum of Care’ defined as integrated services for mothers and children from pre-pregnancy to delivery, the immediate postnatal period, and childhood. Data collected about ante-natal care, births, post-natal care, immunization and maternal, newborn and child deaths can be used to strengthen both data about continuum of care as a program, and health information and CRVS data.
Purpose of Technical Meeting
This technical meeting will focus on building linkages between current MNCH innovations and CRVS systems in areas such as immunization, and maternal, and newborn and child health services for better birth and death notification as part of developing options for strengthening data between the Continuum of Care system, health information systems and CRVS systems, for mutual benefits.
Building upon previous experiences and the December 2013 meeting, the aim of the technical meeting will be to discover and document examples of innovative approaches to interoperability between Health and CRVS, with a view to further technical development, operational research and programming to ensure broader access and scalability of successful innovations.
The technical meeting will review evidence and experiences from recent projects available to identify opportunities, issues and guide more countries and partners to improve systems to record, notify, register, and certify births and deaths and link to program information data systems. This will improve the quality and timeliness of information for immunization and other health programs (target populations) as well child protection services.
Meeting Participants
It will convene GAVI alliance core partners and other relevant stakeholders from immunization, health data systems and civil registry and child protection. The meeting will be hosted by UNICEF in New York, co-hosted by WHO and other partners.
Meeting Deliverables
Meeting deliverables will include:
• Knowledge sharing and dissemination related to MNCH-CRVS innovations
• Increasing coordination of health systems and CRVS stakeholders,
• Recommendations for country and regional stakeholders to plan and test promising MNCH-CRVS innovations, and
• A technical working paper
These deliverables will be focused to assist countries and regions for innovative planning to enhance Health and CRVS interoperability across the continuum of care, recommendations for interested donors and additional technical guidance for regional CRVS meetings (e.g. APAI-CRVS).
Purpose of the consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy to coordinate with UNICEF, GAVI, WHO, CDC and WB to hold a multi-partner and country technical meeting on interoperability between Health and CRVS, with a special focus on immunization. The technical meeting will review evidence from recent projects available to guide countries and partners to increase the identification of recorded births and deaths, and better information on the target number of children in need of immunization services, as well as other health and child protection services. The meeting will be hosted by UNICEF in New York and is funded by GAVI as part of their Data SFA grant.
Expected results: (measurable results)
The consultant will be responsible for the following specific activities/outputs:
- Background paper: Write a background paper on the current status of health and CRVS interoperability along the continuum of care, with a special focus on MNH & Immunization services and Birth Registration, including laws or policies that both promote and enhance or restrict services, through literature review and consultation with key partners.
- Meeting Planning: Coordinate and manage the Health-CRVS interoperability technical meeting, including but not limited to: invitation letters, setting agenda, coordinating logistics, arranging travel, etc.
- Attend Meeting: Attend CRVS-Health Interoperability Meeting in New York, 4-6 October 2016.
- Technical Meeting Report: Write a technical meeting report summarizing the proceedings and recommendations of the Health-CRVS Interoperability Technical Meeting and disseminate report. Meeting report will be completed in consultation with meeting participants and partners.
- Additional Support as needed: Provide additional support to the KMIR unit in the Health Section and Child Protection Section as needed.
Linkages with other teams
- Regular liaison and communication with other Health, Child Protection and Data & Analytics Section staff working on Health Information and Birth Registration, and other partner organizations (WHO, GAVI, CDC, WB & others as needed).
Duty Station
(UNICEF, NYHQ.)
Timeframe
Start date: 06 Sept 2016 End date: 04 Nov 2016
Deliverables (see Activities above for Detail by #), Duration (Estimated # of Days), Deadline
1. Background paper, 5 days, Draft 13 Sept & Final 30 Sept 2016
2. Meeting Planning (coordinating logistics, etc.), 10 days, 03 Oct 2016
3. Attend Meeting in NYHQ (CRVS 04-06 October), 3 days, 06 Oct 2016
4. Technical meeting Report Draft, 7 days, 21 Oct 2016
4. Technical meeting Report Final, 3 days, 01 Nov 2016
4. Disseminate Report, 2 days, 04 Nov 2016
5. Additional Support as needed
• Facilitate and participate in weekly meetings with internal and external stakeholders, as needed
• Provide support and advice to Health Section KMIR unit and Child Protection on CRVS-Health Interoperability
• Implement various tasks and deliverables throughout the contract period as specified above Ongoing Total 30 days over 2 months
Key competences, technical background, and experience required Deadline
A Master’s degree in public health or related discipline
At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels in CRVS, particularly birth registration, and MNCH
Demonstrated ability to produce high quality reports, guidance documents, training material, and publications in CRVS or Child Health
Experience in Technical meeting planning and management
Excellent spoken and written fluency in English
Strongly Desired
Experience in CRVS-Health Interoperability, particularly birth registration and/or immunisation registries
Familiarity with CRVS and MNCH literature
Knowledge of another UN language (French preferred)
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