Consultant (IPC Technical Support)

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TORs)

Title:                Consultant (IPC Technical Support)

Level:              Equivalent to NOB

Duty Station:   Islamabad

Contract:         Third-party/CTC

Background/Purpose:

The purpose of the consultancy is to provide specialized technical and managerial expertise for strengthening Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programs across national, provincial/regional, and healthcare facility levels in Pakistan.

Healthcare‑associated infections (HAIs) remain a major public health challenge, imposing significant burden on patients, health and care systems, and communities. The impact is particularly acute in low‑ and middle‑income countries like Pakistan, where structural constraints and resource limitations hinder effective prevention of HAI in the health facilities’ settings.

In Pakistan, HAIs contribute substantially to avoidable morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Overcrowded facilities, limited infection prevention infrastructure, and uneven implementation of standard IPC practices such as hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, injection safety, waste management, triage and patient placement, etc exacerbate these risks. High‑risk settings, including ICU, NICU, OT, dental and dialysis units and surgical wards, are particularly vulnerable to the risk health care associated disease transmission.

IPC is not only a cornerstone of safe, high‑quality healthcare delivery but also a critical mechanism against infectious hazards from a health security perspective. Effective IPC programs to strengthen national preparedness, resilience and response against emerging pathogens, pandemic‑prone diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a key priority under the International Health Regulations (IHR). Inadequate IPC capacity undermines the ability to detect, contain, and respond to disease outbreaks, thereby weakening Pakistan’s overall health security architecture.

The updated Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool as a key instrument for assessment of IHR core capacities has established IPC as a separate, stand‑alone technical area. This is a recognition and reflection of the central role of IPC measures in mitigating cross‑cutting risks, ensuring continuity of quality essential health services, safeguarding both patients and healthcare workers. Strengthening IPC governance, health care workers competency-based training, IPC surveillance and monitoring system is essential not only for reducing HAIs but also critical for national health security preparedness and response against infectious hazards.

The WHE Unit in Country Office Pakistan under the guidance of EMRO has been working in close collaboration with the Government of Pakistan since 2018 in a systematic, system building approach for establishing IPC program guided by the WHO eight core components. This collaboration provided crucial technical and logistic support during the HIV outbreak response in 2019 in Larkana, Sindh.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented opportunity to further strengthen IPC programs across Pakistan through addressing lack of IPC experts, mentors, standardized IPC training packages and curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate programs as well as in-service training for nurses, doctors, housekeeping and other allied staff.

There has been an overall progress in establishing IPC structures, development of national guidelines and continuous investment in training and education of health care workers (HCWs). However, repeated IPC assessments indicate a minimum foundational governance structure in place, including designated focal points, IPC committees, national standards, and sustainable capacity-building initiatives. Major operational gaps still persist, as reflected in a low overall IPC program performance at the district and health care facility level. Significant deficiencies remain in implementation of essential IPC practices with insufficient supplies, weak monitoring and audit systems, lack of dedicated resources, and limited institutionalized IPC training resulting in enhanced risk of healthcare-associated infection transmission.

In this context, there is need for a dedicated senior IPC expert/focal point to support WHE Team Lead in WCO and coordinate with WHO provincial offices to continue WHO’s technical support and guidance for IPC system building at all levels in Pakistan.

Tasks to be performed:

Under the direct supervision of TL WHE, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:

1.      Advance national IPC standards and guidelines for strengthening national governance and IPC coordination structures.

2.      Strengthen IPC governance and coordination at the district and health care facility levels through capacity building of senior management, focal points, IPC teams and IPC committees.

3.      Strengthen IPC committees to ensure their effective functioning through regular meetings, clear terms of reference, and multisectoral representation and engagement.

4.      Provide WHO technical guidance and collaborate with national and provincial authorities and regulatory bodies/health care commissions for monitoring and assessment of IPC programs and practices in public and private health care facilities.

5.      Support implementation of standard IPC practices, including hand hygiene, PPE use, environmental cleaning, and other core IPC measures in health care facilities.

6.      Support to strengthen application of transmission and contact precautions, safe clinical procedures in health care facilities.

7.      Support assessment-based development and implementation of targeted improvement plans, to strengthen IPC readiness and response to infectious and priority communicable diseases in health care facilities.

8.      Support supportive supervision, follow-up mentoring, and routine monitoring to facilitate indicators-based progress review with regular reporting and feedback to relevant authorities.

9.      Support capacity building, continuous professional development and institutionalization of training programs in health care facilities.

10.  Provide competency-based training for IPC focal points on IPC outbreak management, including prevention of community transmission and support for early risk identification and prevention of infectious hazards.

11.  Support the institutionalization of structured IPC training programs for frontline healthcare workers, including mandatory induction training and regular refresher courses.

12.  Support community awareness on priority infectious hazards through application of IPC practices particularly among vulnerable groups (infants, children, pregnant women, people living with HIV, and immunocompromised patients).

13.  Support implementation of WHO HAI surveillance protocols/national HAI guidance to reduce HAI in high-risk settings (ICU, NICU, isolation wards, dialysis, operation theatre, labour room, dental unit, blood transfusion unit, etc.).

14.  Facilitate and provide technical support for strengthening HAI surveillance capacities, data management and regular reporting in health care facilities.

15.  Promote health care workers (HCWs) safety through vaccination, surveillance and management of HCWs exposure to health care associated infections (HAI) and needle stick injuries (NSI).

Recruitment Profile

Education:

·         Essential: University degree in Medicine is required.

·         Desirable: Additional qualifications or specialized training in IPC, healthcare waste management, WASH, or related public health fields would be an asset. Advanced university degree in Public Health.

Experience:

·         Essential: At least 2 years of relevant and demonstrated experience of IPC policy/strategy and training modules development and implementing IPC activities including monitoring, hospital waste management, WASH, environmental programs, etc.

·         Desirable: Previous experience working with WHO, UN agencies, or other international organizations would be an asset.

Competencies required:

·         Technical Competence

·         Overall Attitude at Work

·         Teamwork

·         Respecting and Promoting Individual and Cultural Differences

·         Communication

Functional Knowledge and Skills:

·         Expertise in development and implementation of strategies, plans, assessments, training and implementing IPC in healthcare facilities.

·         Technical skills in surveillance and training of healthcare workers on disease outbreak in healthcare settings.

·         Ability to work both independently and in a team setting with the government and relevant stakeholders.

·         Proficient in MS Office tools such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, etc.

Language:

Good knowledge of English and local language (Urdu).