Conduct National HIV PrEP and PEP Program Implementation Assessment and Update National HIV PrEP and PEP Policy (Албания - Тендер #42696133)

The World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines is searching for an institutional contractual partner to support the conduct of the National HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) program implementation assessment and to update the National HIV PrEP and PEP policy under an Agreement Performance of Work (APW).

BACKGROUND

The Philippines has the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia and Pacific Region with a 237% increase in annual new HIV infections from 2010 to 2020. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted HIV prevention coverage and service delivery resulting in the doubling of new HIV infections from 2019-2020 (10%) to 2020-2021(21%). As an intervention, the Department of Health (DOH) has expanded its combination prevention strategies including HIV PrEP and PEP in the country. DOH started implementing the HIV PrEP program last March 2021 to reduce new HIV infections. It was targeted in the HIV Health Sector Plan (HSP) 2020 2022 to initiate 10,000 men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) on PrEP. As of December 2022, there were already 12,906 Filipinos initiated on PrEP. Though the country has achieved its HSP target, the PrEP program needs to be enhanced to be able to provide PrEP to more Filipinos as simple and as close as we can to the key populations (KPs). Moving forward, the country initially plans to scale up PrEP services to as many as 150,000 Filipinos on PrEP by the end of 2026. On the other hand, HIV PEP for occupational and non-occupational exposure programs should be strengthened to maximize the benefits of HIV anti-retroviral drugs for HIV prevention. To expand, a thorough assessment of its current implementation needs to be conducted to ensure evidence-informed expansion of the program in adherence to national and global guidelines, and in alignment with DOH directions and universal health care (UHC).

The importance of offering and expanding HIV PrEP and PEP services has been underscored in various documents such as World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Sector Strategies (GHSS) 2022 2030, WHO simplified and differentiated service delivery of PrEP 2022, DOH Omnibus Health Guidelines 2022, and Joint TBHIV Program Review recommendations. This is aligned with the DOHs thrust in its Health Sector Strategy 2023 2028 that Filipinos are among the healthiest people in Asia by 2040.

This technical assistance will support the Department of Health in updating the national HIV PrEP and PEP policy. The project will look into program implementation, its best implementation models, and its areas of improvement and expansion of PrEP modalities (e.g. demedicalization, simplified, and differentiated service delivery such as pharmacy-led and community PrEP). Also, the project will look into evidence and implementation models from other countries and will include but limited to an analysis of the feasibility of innovative PrEP delivery such as event-driven PrEP, Dapivirine Ring, and long-acting injectable PrEP. This project shall follow two tracks: a policy brief to document the findings and recommendations of this project and to update the HIV PrEP and PEP policy that will be the basis of programmatic implementation and scale-up in the country. The updated policy will serve as a general anchor of HIV PrEP and PEP work and shall exclude dissemination activities, detailed communication, and operational planning.

The objective of this technical assistance is to develop an updated national HIV PrEP and PEP Policy.

REQUIREMENTS/WORK TO BE PERFORMED

Output 1: Inception Report

Deliverable 1.1: Timetable

Deliverable 1.2: Work plan

Output 2: Policy Brief

Deliverable 2.1: Findings from program implementation assessment (national to facility-level, other key stakeholders)

Deliverable 2.2: Country information on HIV PrEP and PEP implementation

Deliverable 2.3: Literature review of PrEP and PEP implementation outside the country

Deliverable 2.4: Recommendations for the HIV PrEP and PEP program in the country

Output 3: HIV PrEP and PEP Policy

Deliverable 3.1: Vetted, finalized, and updated HIV PrEP and PEP policy

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTRACTOR

Mandatory experience:

• At least five years of experience in the field of public health
• At least one year experience in similar projects, specifically those related to HIV PrEP and PEP program
• With good planning and organizational skills
• Relevant experience working on HIv, preferably on HIV PrEP and/or PEP
• Relevant experience in collaborating with government agencies at the local, regional, and/or national levels
• Familiarity with project management and monitoring and evaluation principles and basic health-related concepts

Desirable experience:

• Experience in previously engaging with government officials; diplomacy skills and other soft skills

SUBMISSIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 26 June 2023

• " Company Profile {for institutional applications}
• " Technical proposal indicating methodology and timelines, in addition to the below annexes
  • Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
  • Annex 3: Vendor Information Form
• " Financial proposal

Please use Tender Notice No.