Agreement for Performance of Work (APW) for Tuvalu Digital Health Strategy Development

BACKGROUND

Tuvalu is a remote Pacific Island country with a small (approximately 11,000) and decreasing population and significant resource and capacity constraints. About half of the population lives in the island capital city of Funafuti. Tuvalu has limited communication infrastructure and IT support capacity.

Tuvalu’s health profile is similar to many other Pacific countries, with communicable diseases and outbreaks. These remain an important issue, along with the parallel increase in NCD burden. As with other Pacific islands, there has also been increasing recognition of the current and future challenges associated with the linkages between environmental factors, climate change and human health; these include food- and waterborne diseases, vector-borne diseases and the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. However, capabilities to monitor, surveil and understand these potential impacts are currently quite limited. The eHealth strategy should therefore support Tuvalu’s transition to a health system that strengthens surveillance of climate-sensitive diseases and is itself resilient to the expected future impacts of climate change.

Tuvalu has one main hospital, The Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on Funafuti. Supported by an international cooperation agency of Chinese Taipei, PMH has an electronic medical record (EMR) system that is not functioning adequately. There are eight other outer island clinics staffed by nurses who provide primary care and preventive services. Health services are all provided as a public service, and there is no private sector health practice. For the outer island clinics at the primary health care (PHC) level, consolidated monthly reporting is in place. Currently data is collected through a paper-based system consisting of different registers, reporting templates and tally sheets at each health facility. The collated monthly data is sent to PMH where it is analysed and entered into Excel. There is also a medical folder/ filing system in place but it is not well-managed.  The future goal is that all health information from the PHC level would be incorporated into the electronic HIS.

The lack of qualified human resources is a major challenge in the health care system.

PURPOSE/SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTIVITY

In collaboration with the WHO/DPS office and the Government of Tuvalu, this contract is to prepare a costed and pragmatic eHealth strategy and roadmap for Tuvalu. The strategy and roadmap should cover all areas of the health information milieu including, but not limited to: resourcing, clinical data, public health, medical supplies, and surveillance. The strategy must also address the technical, organizational and human capacity constraints.

The strategy is to engage high-level discussion to support the implementation of the initial stages of the strategy and road map prepared with a view to setting the stage for possible procurement of an eHealth solution in line with the priorities defined in the roadmap. The scope of the requirements will be determined by mutual agreement at the conclusion of the strategy and roadmap.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT

Digital Health Strategy Development & Costing

Phase 0 (Home base)

•             Initial background document review. This is expected to include a survey if relevant strategies and policies, climate-sensitive diseases relevant to Tuvalu, and approaches to the surveillance of such diseases in analogous Pacific island countries and areas.

Phase 1 (Tuvalu)

•             Conduct consultations with clinical, administrative and senior management stakeholders to understand business requirements and overall alignment of the strategy to support national level plans (e.g. national health plan).

•             Review existing information system, information flows, data usage and reporting requirements and identify gaps, risks and opportunities. This review should cover both clinical and reporting use of information in the primary health and acute care settings.

•             Review current approaches to monitoring climate-sensitive disease burden over time.

•             Develop and present a brief current state analysis and preliminary opportunities and options analysis with focus on sustainability and provide a costed policy options for the management’s consideration.

•             Identify and develop strategic linkages with other ICT government initiatives such as eGovernment, CRVS and other public services digital delivery.

Phase 2 (Home base)

•             Develop a draft, costed strategy for a climate-resilient health information system, together with a three-year roadmap (aligned with national development/health planning). The strategy should address development of the required technical, organizational and human capacity requirements.

•             The strategy should describe the interaction with the CRVS process and systems and any other potential interactions with other sources or systems.

•             Review relevant current Pacific initiatives and potential funding sources to identify possible synergies and cooperative development opportunities to address multiple objectives.

•             Solicit input and feedback from the Tuvalu government and stakeholders.

Phase 3 (Tuvalu)

•             Clarify any remaining issues.

•             Present the draft strategy and roadmap with options to Tuvalu senior management and broader stakeholders, including other ministries and potentially other development partners.

•             Develop draft and final report.

It is also expected that the consultant will have consultative meetings with WHO representatives and possibly other partners in Suva at the beginning and (possibly) end of Phases 1 and 3.

Requirements Development

METHODS TO CARRY OUT THE ACTIVITY

It is anticipated that the work will consist of different phases in Tuvalu of approximately three week plus approximately one week of work from the consultant’s home base together with meetings with WHO in Suva while travelling to Tuvalu.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION: Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in public health, health informatics, statistics, epidemiology, or related field.

Essential:  

Bachelor’s degree in public health

Desirable:

Master’s degree in public health

EXPERIENCE

Essential:

At least 7 years of working experience, including international work experience, in the design, development and management of public health, M&E information and clinical information systems.

Demonstrated knowledge of process documentation and mapping.

Demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement (e.g. leading or participating in workshops, interviews, etc.).

Demonstrated experience in the development of health information and/or digital health strategies.

Desirable:

Experience in climate-resilient health information systems and assessing the health impacts of climate change.

Experience working in one or more Pacific islands to strengthen their HIS and carry out skills transfer would be a strong asset.

TECHNICAL SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• Extensive knowledge and demonstrated experience in project management for health information systems.
• Broad understanding of relevant technical concepts (e.g. networks, hardware infrastructure, common approaches to healthcare system integration).
• Demonstrated business analysis and process mapping skills.
• Familiarity with the principles of privacy and security in information systems would be an asset.
• Familiarity with industry standard approaches to and standards for the exchange of health information would be an asset.
• Knowledge of the standard indicators and frameworks in common use across the Pacific such as HIMF.
• Demonstrated business analysis, information architecture and modelling skills.

LANGUAGES

English

COMPETENCIES

• Communicating in a credible and effective way;
• Producing results;
• Moving forward in a changing environment; and
• Fostering integration and teamwork

START DATE: 01 March 2019

DURATION OF CONTRACT:

Anticipated duration is 30 days of effort split over six phases and travel days.

APPLICATIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit their CV {for individual contractors} or Company Profile {for institutional applications} and Expression of Interest {cover letter} to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 20 February 2019 1700H. 

The cover letter should outline how their experience and qualifications make them a suitable candidate for this position and should include their proposed daily consultancy fee and availability.

Please use Tender Notice No. 83541 as subject to all submission.  Only successful candidates will be contacted.