Development of a remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine

BACKGROUND

Quality Assurance of medicines and services is recognized as one of the core health systems attributes that need to be strengthened to advance towards Universal Health Coverage. For example, The Regional Action Framework on Universal Health Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health recognizes quality as one of five core components of the health system with others such as efficiency, equity, accountability and sustainability, and resilience. Further, in the Region at the Technical Consultation on Medium-Term Agenda on Traditional Medicine for Universal Health Coverage in the Western Pacific Region held on 28-29 June 2018 in Manila, Philippines, quality assurance was identified as a key priority area for WHO's continued support for moving forward traditional medicine agenda under UHC.

Among many factors related to quality assurance, laboratory testing for quality control is a fundamental and central element to ensuring the quality and safety of medicines including traditional and complementary medicines, since it provides important evidence to national regulatory authorities for their decision making on marketing authorization, post-marketing surveillance, pharmacovigilance and withdrawal from the market. However, applying lab testing for quality control to traditional medicines has been hampered by various concerns in the many Member States in the Western Pacific Region. Lack of appropriate regulatory standards and insufficient technical capacity of national laboratories have been identified as the main obstacles and subsequently have been chosen as the priority areas for WHO's support.

There have been two pathways for the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) to support tackling these common challenges across the Member States. For countries that have already established stringent regulatory system for traditional medicines, such as Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong SAR (China), Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Viet Nam, WPRO supported the establishment of the Forum for the Harmonization of Herbal Medicines among national regulatory authorities (NRAs) of those countries. On the other hand, for Member States which currently develop and strengthen the regulatory system for traditional medicines, more direct support from WHO to improve the technical capacity of NRAs and national laboratories have been requested.

With support from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the Republic of Korea, WHO WPRO have provided hands-on laboratory training program on quality control of traditional medicines to the countries. It is acknowledged the need to develop a remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region. The remote training module will be developed based on the initial version developed last year partnering with MFDS and National Institute of Korean Medicine Development (NIKOM). The remote training will contribute to strengthening the technical capacity of national laboratories in the Member States to develop regulatory standards and conduct laboratory testing on quality control of traditional medicines.

PURPOSE/SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTIVITY

To develop a remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine and disseminate training to the participants by an online training platform using learning management system (LMS).

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT

The work will involve developing a remote training on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine and setting up an online learning platform to be used by the participants. Based on the remote training course developed in year 2020, the remote training modules will be updated based on the request of WHO WPRO. The contractual partner will consult with EMT in carrying out the tasks and will be responsible for the development of the training module and regular technical maintenance of the online platform from February to March 2022 to ensure working order as well as troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Output/s

Output 1: Developed remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine

Deliverable 1.1: The full remote training module in videos (total 23 modules)

• Module Title[1]

1. General consideration for Laboratory Safety
2. Quality control overview - Korean Herbal Medicine
3. Korean Pharmacopoeia (KP) and Korean Herbal Pharmacopoeia (KHP)
4. General Notices
5. Sampling methods and preparation for general tests
6. Organoleptic examination & Determination of foreign matter
7. Determination of Loss on drying
8. Determination of ash in Medicinal Herb
9. Determination of extractable matter
10. Determination of volatile oils
11. Identification Test - Thin-layer chromatography & Chemical visualization
12. Quantification Test & HPLC
13. Heavy Metal Analysis for Medicinal Herb
14. Residual pesticides Test for Medicinal Herb
15. Sulfur dioxide Test for Medicinal Herb
16. Mycotoxin Test for Medicinal Herb
17. Benzopyrene Test for Medicinal Herb- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
18. Microorganisms Test
19. DNA analysis for Medicinal Herb
20. Establishment of herbal reference standard
21. Statistical remark (types and methods of statistical analysis applied)
22. Determination of Bitterness value
23. Determination of Swelling Index

Output 2: Developed manual for the remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine

Deliverable 2.1: Training manual for the remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine including post tests for each module

Output 3: Constructed online learning platform using LMS

Deliverable 3.1: The LMS should be containing the following functions:

1. Manage learners;
2. Deliver and organize curriculum;
3. Assess learners; 
4. Track and report;
5. Should be compatible with the assistive technology;
6. Responsive solution that scales for different screen resolutions and devices, including tablets and smartphones; and
7. Functionality will need to work at minimum on the following browsers: Chrome 69, Safari 10, Firefox 52, Internet Explorer 7.0.

This phase covers diverse requirements, for example maintenance, build, produce and migration of pages as instructed by EMT.

METHODS TO CARRY OUT THE ACTIVITY

The work will involve developing a remote training module on Laboratory Capacity Building for improving quality control of Traditional Medicine and setting up an online learning platform. The contractual partner will consult with EMT in carrying out the tasks and will be responsible for regular technical maintenance of the online platform from February 2021 to March 2021 to ensure working order as well as troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

Degree on traditional medicine, public health, and information technology related courses

EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• Proven experience in developing training courses related to traditional medicine

Desirable:

Previous work with other international organizations and/or major institutions in the field of health and international development is desirable.

TECHNICAL SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• • Demonstrated experience in training traditional medicine practitioners
• • Ability to work independently and in close collaboration with WHO.
• • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• • Attention to detail

LANGUAGES

Fluent in English and Korean (writing, reading and speaking)

COMPETENCIES

• • Communicating in a credible and effective way
• • Teamwork
• • Technical expertise
• • Knowing and managing yourself
• • Producing results

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The contractor will work in close collaboration with DHS/EMT.

The contractor does not need to work in WPRO.

Duration of contract is from November 2021 until 31 March 2022.

APPLICATIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 16 November 2021

• • Company Profile {for institutional applications} 
• • Technical proposal, with the following accomplished forms as indicated in the attached Request for Proposal (RFP)
  • Annex 1: Acknowledgement Form
  • Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
  • Annex 3: Proposal Completeness Form
  • Annex 6: Self-Declaration Form
• • Financial proposal

Please use Tender Notice No. WPRO/2021-11/DHS_EMT/154218 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.