Consultancy for development of a technical note on for Vitamin A Supplementation Programme

Vitamin A Supplementation (VAS) is a critical intervention for child survival, proving effective in reducing all-cause mortality in populations with vitamin A deficiency. Since 2000, global efforts to scale up VAS programmes have resulted in significant improvements in coverage, contributing to a notable decline in child mortality globally. Global VAS coverage reached its peak at 78% in 2009, with more than 290 million children fully protected from the consequences of vitamin A deficiency. However, between 2016 and 2022, global two-dose VAS coverage has fluctuated around 60% with a dip to 41% seen in 2020 due to service disruptions caused by the global pandemic.

While two-thirds of eligible children globally receive VAS, the remaining one-third, missing out on the life-saving benefits, likely represents those children grappling with various health and nutrition challenges. These are the children who arguably need VAS the most.

Many national VAS programmes conduct reviews of the programme after each round of supplementation. The findings from the review are to provide evidence for the programme strategies in the next round of supplementation. However, VAS programmes typically rely solely on coverage when assessing and evaluating performance at national and subnational levels. While coverage, a widely available indicator is useful as an overall summary of the programme, it does not give adequate insights into other aspects of the programme that may be contributing to suboptimal performance. Furthermore, the scope and scale of reviews vary from country to country. Even within countries, there may be variability by district. This makes tracking performance across years and different geographies challenging.

There is a need to provide further guidance to countries on methods and approaches to conducting a systematic review of their VAS programmes relying on indicators that extend beyond coverage. This consultancy aims to develop a comprehensive and standardized method to guide countries in reviewing their VAS programmes at national, sub-national, and service-delivery levels. The review process is intended to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the programme to inform future programmatic strategies.

Scope of Work:

The objectives of this consultancy are organized in two key outputs:

Develop a comprehensive and standardized method to guide countries in reviewing their VAS programmes. This should include information on the process of conducting the review and a framework to guide the review.

Activities under this output will include:

Qualifications:

Education: