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Qualifications

Background

The Gambia Expanded Program on Immunization is one dedicated programs of the Ministry of Health aiming to control diseases. The program has significantly contributed to lowering the burden of vaccine preventable diseases in the country due to its achievement and maintenance of high vaccination coverage. However, vaccination coverage has been adversely affected by the COVID|-19 pandemic globally, including The Gambia. In response to the challenge posed by the pandemic, many activities have been implemented with support from partners to recover coverage in the country.

As part of global efforts to increase vaccination coverage and catch up with children who have missed out their vaccinations due to the pandemic and restore vaccination coverage, The Gambia has benefitted from the Big Catchup (BCU) initiative. This initiative aims to achieve its aims by providing additional vaccine doses to countries aside from their routine doses to cover all children under five years who missed one or more doses during the pandemic.

As the launch of the BCU approaches, there is a need to adapt existing data collection tools to capture BCU data to facilitate reporting. The Gambia uses a hybrid Smart Paper Technology based solution to capture routine vaccination data wherein paper vaccinations are recorded on pre-designed smart paper forms that are then scanned and the information digitized by a cloud based optical character recognition system. For vaccine logistics management, the country is using a combination of tools: the online Stock Management Tool at the national, regional and health facility levels; paper-based ledgers in health facilities; and Vaccine Visibility System in a few pilot facilities.

Scope of Work

The consultant is expected to support the following:

1.     To submit a situation analysis and operational plan no later than 15 working days after the contract start date.

2.     To coordinate the adaptation of existing vaccination and logistics data capture tools/systems to include the capture of BCU data from the health facility to the national level.

3.     Facilitate the printing of an initial tranche of Smart Paper Forms to be used to start the BCU.

4.     Develop a monitoring system to track key performance indicators of the BCU.

5.     To monitor the indicators included in the performance framework of the EPI Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning plan, in particular those related to data quality (completeness, timeliness, consistency).  For this purpose, the consultant will use the information systems available.

6.     To identify the subjacent causes of data quality issues and implement corrective actions jointly with the EPI program.

7.     To identify priority gaps in EPI information systems SOPs and develop/update them jointly with EPI team.

8.     To monitor the implementation of EPI information systems SOP.

9.     Support the mapping of zero dose and under-immunized children enhance BCU success.

10.  Provide any other support requested by the program in relation to implementation of the BCU including data analysis and reporting.

11. To submit monthly progress reports to the EPI manager.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications

Essential: At least first university degree in Health Informatics, Epidemiology, Public Health, Monitoring and Evaluation, Biostatistics, Data Management, Data Science, or related fields.

Desirable: Master’s degree in any of the above

Experience

Essential: At least five (5) years of experience in data management and analytics.

Desirable: Experience working with a national vaccination program. Experience working with WHO or another UN Organization is an asset.

Skills/Knowledge

Strong quantitative data analysis skills especially in managing and analyzing vaccination and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance data; demonstrated capacity to use MS Excel and any of R, Stata, or SPSS; proven skills in data visualization (create dashboards in MS Excel, Power BI, or Tableau); Experience with GIS software (Arc GIS, QGIS, or others); Experience working with DHIS2 or other HMIS systems; Experience working with EPI logistics systems such as the Stock Management Tool.

Languages and level required

Good command of both written and spoken English.