Background
Founded in 2003, the mission of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) is to improve access to, and quality of treatment services for people living with HIV (PLHIV). The organization is a network of global activists, who joined forces to advocate for equitable access to treatment, at a time when communities faced significant financial and logistical barriers to accessing HIV treatment -despite effective medicines being available. As an issue-based organization, ITPC’s reach includes expanding access to high quality services for key populations, people living with tuberculosis (TB) and viral hepatitis (VH).
Given the pace of innovation in the ever-evolving HIV treatment landscape, the gap between treatment education and the rollout of new technologies is widening, especially in low- and middle-income countries and among the most vulnerable in our society. New HIV treatment products in the pipeline must be matched with community-focused education initiatives that lead to robust demand and that are complemented by sound service delivery plans to realize improved health outcomes. The recent launch of long-acting injectables for prevention and the anticipated use of long-acting treatment regimens present an opportunity to set up a platform to bring a diverse group of stakeholders together to enable: (a) increased awareness of these innovations, (b) strong HIV education initiatives, (c) accelerated access, (d) improved demand and (e) affordability through meaningful engagement and productive dialogues.
The main goal of this body of work is to build two-way dialogue between HIV treatment innovators and communities of people living with HIV. The main deliverable is to establish a civil society arm of a multi -stakeholder platform on health technology innovations that will elevate community voices in discussions and decisions about the roll-out of new HIV treatment innovations.
The membership of the civil society arm of the platform will consist of civil society and recipients of care groups from Sub-Saharan Africa that will work within the broader multistakeholder forum to catalyze efforts to best introduce new HIV treatment innovations. The ultimate outcome will be communities that are (a) better informed about innovative treatment options and able to demand access, as well as (b) a better-informed cadre of HIV treatment innovators who are well-informed about and better equipped to meet community needs. As established for the current HIV treatment regimens, the next generation of HIV treatment technologies will need to be included in WHO guidelines and eventually form part of routine global procurement via multi-lateral bodies in order to scale enough for public health impact. The work described in this proposal forms part of the roadmap that will lead to realizing the potential of new treatment products.
Scope of Work
Serve as a lead consultant for ITPC to execute the following tasks/activities:
1. Map key civil society stakeholders in the HIV treatment space with an emphasis on priority community groups:
• Through interviews and surveys develop a deep-dive matrix of the most prominent and impactful civil society actors across 3 priority countries ( South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini) and across SSA if relevant – most influential groups leading on advocacy and policy as well those most active in the service delivery space (support groups, human rights organisations, technical agencies like UNAIDS at country level, HIV units a Ministries of Health at country level, etc).
• Be able to work with current stakeholders at ITPC such as Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), NACOSA, Bonela, Eswatini AIDS Support Organization (SASO)
2. Develop a community engagement strategy and conduct community dialogues with interested stakeholder groups including needs assessment:
• Develop a stepwise road map of how to gather insights from the prioritized list of community groups
• Facilitate up to 2 in-person community dialogues in priority countries with interested stakeholder groups to gather insights on challenges and opportunities around the introduction of new HIV treatments
• Conduct a needs assessment of patient groups to identify tools that could be developed to help address gaps and raise awareness
• Additional surveys and focus group discussions (virtually an/or in-person locally – as needed)
3. Develop materials to address gaps identified
• Conduct knowledge/awareness gap identification (needs assessments to inform tools development)
• Develop HIV treatment education materials including digital solutions on new and promising HIV treatment options – can include peer-to-peer education, trainings, games, quizzes, bots, digital tools
4. Produce a final report highlighting key findings, with recommendations – working in collaboration with ITPC’s graphic designer and communications team.
Duration of Consultancy
This consultancy will start September 1, 2023, with a final report/deliverables produced for January, 31 2024.
Education & Experience Requirements
1. Minimum 10 years of experience in global public health
2. Knowledge about long-acting injectables within HIV prevention and/or long-acting treatment regimens
3. Strong knowledge of service delivery approaches
4. Strong orientation to the unique needs of key populations and PLHIV
5. Experience working within Africa
6. Superior verbal and written communication skills in English
7. Evidence of experience in writing for donor-funded environments specifically a public health context
8. Ability to consolidate findings and draw from multiple sources
To Apply:
Send Curriculum Vitae with cover letter and cost estimate:
Send resume with cover letter & consultancy rate to procurement@itpcglobal.org with the subject line “HIV Treatment innovation Program” – Application: Your Name” by 23 August 2023 – you can also apply as a team.
