National Consultancy to support scale-up of Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System

The first month of life – the neonatal period – is the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival. Children face the highest risk of dying, with three-quarters of all neonatal deaths globally occurring in the first week of life. Every day, 42 newborns die in Uzbekistan, and neonatal mortality is increasing – from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 17 per 1,000 live births in 2022.
While there is a general agreement that registration and surveillance of newborn deaths are needed to better understand the causes of perinatal deaths and to drive actions for mortality reduction, the reporting practices and their implications for healthcare providers on the facility level are not well-known. Therefore, the implementation of the Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response system, which the WHO introduced as a tool for understanding the causes of perinatal death, has received significant political commitment in Uzbekistan.
During 2020-2023, UNICEF supported the adaptation and implementation of the Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System in Uzbekistan through establishment of the national team of experts, capacity building of health care providers, supportive supervision visits and further scale-up. UNICEF supported the incremental scale-up of national service quality standards by enhancing the capacity of 150 perinatal centres’ staff in implementing perinatal death audits (PDA). As a result, 150 of 227 maternities (66 per cent) fully implemented PDA.
Considering the aforementioned, UNICEF Uzbekistan is seeking a qualified National Individual Consultant with relevant background and experience who will provide support the scaling-up of the Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System in Uzbekistan in new targeted maternities. The national consultant will also support the capacity building of national partners under the overall guidance of the Chief of Health and Development and the direct supervision of the Health Specialist.
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