RFQ Nº UNFPA/GUY/RFQ/24/005 - To Conduct Emergency Obstetric New-born Care (EmONC) Needs Assessment in Guyana

OBJECTIVE

To build the capacity of the public sector in Guyana to strengthen protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, and workplace violence, in line with international standards and best practices.

BACKGROUND

UNFPA’s EQUAL SRHR programme in Guyana, funded by Global Affairs Canada, has as its main objective the protection of women and girls in Guyana, including Indigenous women and girls and Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Guyana [including returning Guyanese from Venezuela], by enhancing their ability to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives and by strengthening systems to prevent and respond to instances of Gender Based Violence (GBV), Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), and Sexual Harassment (SH). 

In countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region there has been significant reduction in maternal mortality rates - from 88 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 74 in 2017. These rates have been fluctuating – “giving an indication that there still remains serious issues of equity in the Region - with several countries still having maternal mortality ratio above the target 3.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which seeks to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. 

Guyana, as a developing country in Latin America, was listed among 189 countries that agreed to ensure that by the year 2015 maternal mortality would be reduced by three quarters and under-five child mortality would be reduced by two thirds. This goal was not achieved, and although the country continues to make significant strides in reducing maternal mortality rates and is still ranks among the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest maternal mortality rates (approximately 229/100,000 live births as of 2015, and 169 per 100,000 live birth in 2022. A UNICEF report states that maternal deaths that occurred in Guyana could have been avoided if quality and timely reproductive health care services were available and accessible for pregnant women  - a true reflection of sub-optical care during pregnancy, child birth and the postnatal period.
 

PURPOSE OF THIS ENGAGEMENT 

The purpose of the consultancy is to assess the current working environment for EmONC services delivery, health workers’ practices and bottlenecks in delivering EmONC; so as to inform interventions for improving access, availability and quality of Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) and other related MNH services at selected health facilities in Guyana 

The International Consultancy Firm/ Consultancy Team is expected to lead the overall EmONC Needs Assessment process starting from development of study protocol, adaptation of data collection tools, training of data collectors, data collection, data entry and data management, data analysis, and report writing.

The 2024 EmONC Needs Assessment will determine the existing capacity of health facilities to provide necessary life-saving care to pregnant women and their newborns when complications occur.  The ultimate aim of the assessment is to accelerate the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths in Guyana. Specifically, the assessment aims to:

• Set the baseline which will be useful in determining progress of achieving targets set in the key strategic plan and health policy of ministry of health in efforts to accelerate the Reduction of Maternal and newborn Mortality
• Guide policy, planning, and prioritization of interventions in addressing gaps and strengthen the health system by using EmONC as a point of entry.
• Measure the availability of infrastructure that provide basic and comprehensive EmONC;
• Determine the availability of health workers who perform the EmOC signal functions;
• Measure knowledge and competency levels of health workers regarding obstetric and newborn care;
• Determine the availability of essential drugs, equipment, and supplies for EmONC;
• Carry out case reviews of the partograph, cesarean deliveries, and maternal deaths to assess aspects of the quality of care
• Establish a baseline for monitoring the availability, geographic distribution, level of utilization, and quality of EmONC (using the EmONC Indicators).
• UNFPA seeks an International Consultancy Firm/Team to support the Ministry of Health and other partners in Guyana, in this regard.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Deadline for Enquiries: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 via Guyana.office@unfpa.org.  A virtual meeting with interested consultancy firms/teams can be arranged to answer questions regarding the RFQ on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 13:00hrs (1pm) via this meeting link: meet.google.com/rse-ajmo-vxu    

Deadline for submission: Monday, April 22, 2024

Only bids that conform to the bid submission procedures contained in the RFQ documents will be accepted

Bids shall remain valid for a period of ninety (90) days from the RFQ expiration date

Please use the link below to download a copy of the price quotation form that is to be submitted.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yUe-BIAbf6yRs1hl-eCkR0iBGyeAc32k/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116499045270193266243&rtpof=true&sd=true