Lead and Support Consultants - Capacity Building at Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI)

Project Description

• SDI was awarded the first Grant under Contract (GUC) by the Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under the US President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) project for Task Order 4 to specifically work to improve the quality of Malaria Case Management (MCM) in private health facilities and thereby increase access to comprehensive MCM through the private sector in Nasarawa and Plateau States.
• The strategic objectives of the project include:
  • Establish sustainable methodologies and tools for regular supervision and site management of targeted health facilities established.
  • Improve the quality of malaria case management and reporting by targeted health facilities.
  • Promote partnerships and support statutory regulatory agencies as a means to sustain the improved quality of MCM in targeted facilities and
  • Document high-quality knowledge management and external communication products for dissemination. Malaria is a major public health problem in Nigeria accounting for over 60% of hospital consultations, 30% of hospital admission, and one of the top three causes of death in the country.
• The disease prevalence in Nasarawa and Plateau State both stood higher than the national average at 35.9 and 35.8 percent respectively in 2015 but, dropped below the national average in 2018 to 13.6 and 21.4 percent respectively (NDHS, 2018).
• The private, for-profit sector includes private clinics, pharmacies, and patent medicine stores, which provide a range of curative services; almost 60% of health services are sought in private sector facilities.
• The health system in Nigeria, like most developing economies in malaria-endemic regions, still has private-sector health facilities playing a significant role in healthcare services provision for patients with suspected cases of malaria at over 57% (NDHS, 2018).
• Despite this trend, there is still a huge gap with respect to the capacity building of the service providers in this sector to effectively provide quality care in the management of the disease. This also implies that huge data on disease case management still go unreported resulting in a significant gap in health data available for decision-making in malaria control programs in the country.
• The project seeks to contribute to strengthening the delivery and reporting of malaria case management through the provision of supportive mentoring in the targeted private sector health facilities in Nasarawa and Plateau States.

Specific Tasks
Lead Consultant:

• Lead the training of facility health workers and other stakeholders on MCM, MIM, Malaria Surveillance, and commodity management in assigned state
• Train FBM ad-hoc staff, LGA, and State stakeholders on Integrated supportive supervision
• Develop sustainable methodologies and tools for regular supervision and site management of targeted health facilities established.
• Adapt national competency-based assessment tools: pre-and post-test questionnaires, and checklists for knowledge and skill assessment (training evaluation).
• Liaise with support consultant to develop training modules and supervisory checklist in line with the national malaria elimination program
• Provide technical support to SDI as it relates to the capacity building training
• Delegate responsibilities to support consultants to achieve training objectives
• Submit training reports for all capacity-building activities conducted

Support Consultant:

• Facilitate training sessions assigned by the Lead Consultant
• Support Lead Consultant in developing training modules and supervisory checklist in line with the national malaria elimination program
• Support Lead Consultant to train FBM ad-hoc staff, LGA, and State stakeholders on Integrated supportive supervision
• Support Lead Consultant in developing sustainable methodologies and tools for regular supervision and site management of targeted health facilities established.
• Work with the lead consultant to achieve the objectives of the training
• Submit training reports for all capacity-building activities conducted

Qualifications
Lead Consultant:

• A Postgraduate Degree in Health Sciences or a related discipline
• 7-10 years of experience in coordinating malaria interventions in Nigeria
• A national trainer on malaria case management
• Good knowledge of global and national guidelines on malaria diagnosis and treatment and national malaria elimination program
• Good knowledge of malaria service delivery indicators and validated job aides and facilitation manuals
• Knowledge of NHMIS and DHIS 2
• Demonstrated effective report writing and communication skills

Support Consultant:

• A Postgraduate Degree in Health Sciences or Social Sciences
• 5-7 years of experience in coordinating malaria interventions in Nigeria
• Good knowledge of malaria case management and national guidelines on malaria elimination
• Good knowledge of malaria service delivery indicators, validated job aides, and facilitation manuals
• Knowledge of NHMIS and DHIS 2
• Demonstrated effective report writing, facilitation, communication, and interpersonal skills