International Consultant – Improving the quality of care at the therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen

1. Purpose of consultancy

To improve the quality of the care provided at the therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen, by developing the TFCs quality framework, guideline and assessment standards tool and supporting MOPH for its use in all TFCs

2. Background

Yemen is facing a critical humanitarian crisis, with high rates of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children under 5 years old. Therapeutic Feeding Centers (TFCs) within hospitals provide lifesaving treatment for children with SAM and medical complications. However, there is a need to improve the quality of care provided in these centers, to ensure better health outcomes. This should be possible by providing safe, effective, and patient-centered care to the children benefiting from the TFCs.
Although a specific quality of care assessment was never conducted at TFCs, the results of the existing quality of care assessments targeting other health services in Yemen have shown a huge gap in the implementation of basic quality standards. An assessment targeting 18 hospitals in Yemen has shown that the application of the critical quality standards was between 7 and 34%, only. In other words, the critical criteria within the quality standards related to infection prevention and control, medication safety, service delivery, patient rights, and quality governance, were minimally applied in all the assessed hospitals. Moreover, the results of a patient satisfaction survey at the level of hospitals revealed that 48% of the patients did not have privacy during their treatment, 44% said the care did not meet their needs, and 59% of the patients said that they don’t advise their relatives to go to public hospitals, because of the poor quality of care. The quality-of-care situation analysis has shown that there are quality governance gaps at the hospitals including a lack of trained quality teams, inadequate leadership support, and an absence of quality standards, policies, and protocols. All the above shows that much effort is required to improve the quality of services which in turn should contribute to lowering the morbidity and mortality among patients receiving health care.
The quality-of-care status at the TFCs is not expected to be different from other types of health areas, however, there is a need to have a deep look at the situation based on quality standards specific to nutrition services. This deep understanding should help in improving the quality of nutrition services based on the identified gaps.
Although several quality tools were developed by the WHO to assess and improve the quality of maternal, newborn, and children health services, no tool exists to measure the quality of nutrition services. A nutrition quality standards tool is also crucial to guide the implementation of quality-of-care improvement activities at the TFCs. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop a quality standards tool for the TFCs and to start using it to assess and improve the quality of services at the therapeutic feeding centers.

3. Work to be performed

Conduct an extensive literature review to identify appropriate quality of care domains, standards, and indicators to include in the national guideline and quality assessment tool.
– Conduct interviews with TFC’s health workers, patients, and managers to understand the specific needs in the field.
– Develop a user-friendly guideline, modules, job aids, and tools incorporating identified quality dimensions, standards, and means of measurement.
– Conduct meetings with the relevant stakeholders to review the first draft of the tool.
– Pilot the first draft of the tool in selected 5 TFCs and analyze results to revise the tool further and validate the methodology.
– Finalize the TFCs QC assurance reference document based on the pilot results.

Deliverable: –

– The national TFCs QC assurance guidelines, and related document is developed based on the latest evidence in the field and the specific needs in Yemen.
– The training modules to skill TFC workers in QC assurance, and health inspector in the tools to assure QC supervision is developed.
– The first draft of the tool is piloted in selected 5 TFCs and the analysed results are used to revise the tool and validate the methodology.

4. Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Education:

Master’s degree in public health, Medicine, or Health related field

Experience:

At least 7 Years of experience in public health and experience in quality-of-care assessments

Skills/technical skills and knowledge:

– Knowledge in management of severe acute malnutrition.
– Skills in developing assessment tools and delivering trainings.
– Strong analytical and report writing abilities.
– Familiarity with the Yemen healthcare system
– Strong evidence of teamwork and facilitation skills.
– Experience working with Ministries.

5. Languages and levels required:

Excellent understanding and command of the English and Arabic language/s

6. Location:

Yemen WHO Country Office, (Sana’a and Aden)

7. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation):

Start date: 15/July/2024
End date: 14/October/2024

8. Medical clearance:

The selected consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

9. Travel:

The Consultant is expected to travel to Yemen

10. Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

Remuneration: Pay band B – 9,000. USD/monthly rate.
Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited)

Additional Information

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