National consultant to the development of National Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance; Antimicrobial Consumption Surveillance System and Medicine Procurement for Hospitals

Call for Expressions of Interest and Proposal

# 007 – Job title: National consultant to the development of National Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR); antimicrobial consumption surveillance system and medicine procurement for hospitals.

1. Background

In Viet Nam, the irrational use of antibiotics is widespread throughout the health care system, livestock and aquaculture industries. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics by health professionals, consumers and farmers are regarded as key drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country. Although Viet Nam was the first country in WHO’s Western Pacific Region to approve a National Action Plan (NAP) to combat AMR 2013 - 2020; the NAP falls short of committing other ministries to join the Ministry of Health (MOH) to act against inappropriate antimicrobial use. More recently, MOH decided to advocate for a National Strategy on AMR for 2021 – 2030 to be promulgated by the Prime Minister instead of renewing their NAP. This Strategy aims to provide a whole of government response to tackle AMR and would require coordinated effort between numerous stakeholders including (but not limited to) international partners, government counterparts as well as UHC and DC teams within WHO.

In the human health sector, antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs have been implemented in approximately 50% of hospitals after 4 years of Decision 772/QD-BYT (dated 4 March 2016) implementation including the Manual for Antimicrobial Use. Several challenges remain including the lack of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) and use data to guide policy development. Over the past year, WHO has been engaging Viet Nam Social Security (VSS) to produce robust AMC data through ATC/DDD coding and antimicrobial utilization studies. MOH of Viet Nam recently confirmed their participation in Western Pacific Regional Antimicrobial Consumption Surveillance System (WPRACSS), starting at the hospital level and expanding to national and community. Therefore, WHO aims to build on the work done with VSS for AMC data for hospitals and help MOH design a direction for the national AMC surveillance system.

Additionally, following the previous support provided by WHO for the review of the National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy 2014-2020 and provision of policy recommendations, MOH requested WHO additional technical assistance for development of the new National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy 2021-30. While irrational antibiotic use in the community is complex, the National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy (NPSS) for 2021 - 2030 offers an opportunity to address some shortcomings in regulating the private community pharmacy sector, clinical pharmacy workforce, supply chain management and medicine quality.
Both the new National Strategy on AMR and NPSS are high level policies that will influence the scope of works of the MOH for the next decade to come. WHO will continue to play an important role to support Viet Nam to combat AMR and move towards universal access to affordable, safe and quality assured medicines as stipulated in WHO GPW13 2019 – 2023 and WHO-Viet Nam PD 2020 – 2021.

2. Objective

To coordinate activities related to 1) the development of the new National Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR); (2) strengthening a national antimicrobial consumption surveillance system; (3) improving the medicine procurement system for hospitals.

3. Work to be performed

Method(s) to carry out the activity

The consultant will be required to report daily to the office of WHO Viet Nam located in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, unless duty travel is required. The work will involve but not limited to; participation in meetings and workshops, reviewing reports and documents, providing technical advice and visiting health care facilities.

The consultant will work closely with MOH departments such as Medical Services Administration (MSA), Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV); National AMR Steering Committee on AMR; Viet Nam Social Security (VSS); Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Viet Nam Medical Association (VMA), Health Strategy & Policy Institute, universities and other partners.

Output/s

Output 1: Coordinating AMR related activities across the WHO Viet Nam office; and facilitating remote working of international consultant(s) to enable them to support the Ministry of Health (and other government stakeholders) to develop the new National Strategy for AMR 2021 – 2030.

Output 2: Providing technical support to strengthen the national antimicrobial consumption surveillance system, including WPRACSS methodologies and AMC monitoring by VSS; in coordination with remote working international consultant(s) and/or Western Pacific Regional Office EMT unit.

Output 3: Providing technical support to develop the new National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy 2021 – 2030 with key inputs from WHO including actions for strengthening national centralized procurement of medicines; and facilitating remote working of international consultant(s) to support drafting its outline.

Deliverable/s

Deliverable 1: Progress report with evidence of technical assistance provided to develop the National Strategy for AMR, the national AMC surveillance system including its implementation plans, and the National Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy 2021-2030 (due before 31 May 2021).

Deliverable 2: Final consultancy report with evidence of impact of technical assistance and coordination provided to achieve outputs 1 – 3 (due before 31 August 2021).

4. Specific requirements

a. Qualifications required:

Essential: A university degree in relevant area including pharmacy or medicine from a recognised university.

Desirable: A post-graduate degree in relevant area including public health or pharmacy from a recognised university.

b. Experience required:

Essential: Minimum 3 years of experience in the area relevant to this consultancy work.

Desirable: Experience in working in international organizations or UN and in Viet Nam in the area relevant to this consultancy work.

c. Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

• Knowledge in antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial consumption/use surveillance
• Good understanding of pharmaceutical systems
• Experience with implementing medication safety strategies and interventions
• Experience in pharmaceutical management (specifically, medicine procurement) and policy development

d. Language requirements:

Essential: High level of proficiency in English and in Vietnamese, both verbal and written.

e. Competencies

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

• Ability to plan and prioritise challenging workloads
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team or independently
• Fostering integration and teamwork (respecting cultural differences)

5. Place of assignment
Hanoi, Viet Nam

6. Medical clearance
The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

7. Travel
The Consultant is expected to travel according to the itinerary and estimated schedule below:

Those who are interested can contact our focal person with contact detail at the end of the announcement before/by 04 March 2021 and should be addressed to:

Administrative Officer
World Health Organization
UN Building, 304 Kim Ma Street,
Hanoi, Viet Nam

OR

[email protected]

For further information on this TOR, please contact:
[email protected] [1]