Consultancy: Rabies PEP vaccine and rabies elimination in SSA 2025, Consultant - Req.#580358

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Consultancy Title: Rabies PEP vaccine and rabies elimination in SSA 2025, Consultant Section/Division/Duty Station: Health/Immunization Section – Coverage and Equity Team, Programme Division, NYHQ Duration: April 1, 2025 to October 1, 2025 Home/ Office Based: NYHQ / REMOTE About UNICEF If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For over 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries. Background Rabies causes an estimated 57,000 deaths globally each year, of which 24,000 are in Africa. Rabies is one of twenty- one neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and targeted for elimination by 2030. More than 99% of human rabies infections are transmitted by dogs. The rabies virus cannot be eradicated due to its reservoirs in wild animals, but dog- mediated human rabies disease can be eliminated through a combination of post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) vaccination, mass preventive vaccination of dogs, integrated bite-case management (IBCM), and raising of public awareness and knowledge about the disease, as has been demonstrated in the Americas. The risk of rabies is strongly correlated with poverty and poor access to health services, and rabies disproportionately affects children below 15 years (around 40% of cases) and rural populations (around 80%). Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) lags in rabies elimination because of shortages of human rabies PEP vaccine, low dog vaccination coverage, low awareness of the risk of rabies, and limited knowledge in communities and among health care professionals about what action to take in case of human exposure to potentially infected dogs and other animals. In 2024, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, opened a funding window that allows countries to procure rabies PEP vaccines at favorable prices. It is anticipated that this support will improve availability of PEP vaccine in many SSA countries. However, the full potential of improved PEP vaccine availability will not be realized unless supported by public health interventions that raise awareness about rabies, increase knowledge about PEP vaccination, improve IBCM in health care, and promote behavior change of health care providers and community members. Purpose of Activity/Assignment The purpose of the activity is to contribute to rabies elimination efforts in SSA and to support Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance’s investment in improving availability of rabies PEP vaccine in health systems. The purpose of the assignment is to ensure that UNICEF effectively delivers SBC, HPS and public awareness interventions in support of rabies elimination and rabies PEP vaccination in SSA countries. Activities will include planning, resource mobilization, strategy development, and implementation support in the areas of awareness-raising, communication, education, training, and behavior change for rabies control, and will be conducted in collaboration with relevant teams in UNICEF headquarters and the regional offices in Africa. Scope of Work UNICEF intends to support Gavi’s rabies PEP vaccine investment specifically and to contribute to wider rabies elimination efforts in SSA through a set of interventions intended to increase awareness about rabies and support behaviour change among health workers and community members with an emphasis on children. Given the disproportionate impact of rabies on school-age children, the education system will be the central platform for delivering UNICEF’s rabies interventions in tandem with a range of other channels, including social media, radio, print, and person-to-person communication within community health networks, all aimed at reaching school-going as well as out-of-school children, their parents, health workers, and communities at large. The key interventions will include guidance and training for health workers, community health workers, and teachers, community-based awareness- raising activities l