BACKGROUND

Social prescribing is a means for healthcare workers to connect people to a range of non-clinical services in the community, to improve health and wellbeing. Social prescribing can help to address the underlying causes of patients’ health and wellbeing issues, as opposed to simply treating the symptoms.

Social prescribing can take various forms, but all involve connecting patients to resources in their communities based on individual needs. For example, primary health care providers can directly refer patients to community-based services. Alternatively, they can refer them to specialized “link workers”, who provide the referred patients with focused counselling. The link workers may also work with the patients to design personalized wellness plans, support the patients in connecting with the prescribed services, and follow up on patients to monitor their progress.

The Healthy Ageing Unit of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office has recognized social prescribing to be a vital tool in achieving integration of health and non-health services, one of the core objectives of Regional Action Plan on Healthy Ageing in the Western Pacific. To promote and support social prescribing in the Western Pacific Region, the Healthy Ageing Unit, with support from experienced international practitioners, has developed a toolkit on how to implement social prescribing.

In early 2021, a pilot of social prescribing was conducted in Shangrao city in China. As the pilot was successful, the Healthy Ageing Unit is now looking at models to scale up social prescribing to other communities in China. This includes creation of a capacity-building program, which will enable training of link workers in more communities, followed by an evaluation study on the impact of social prescribing on both patients and link workers.

PURPOSE/SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTIVITY

The Healthy Ageing unit seeks an organization to scale up social prescribing in China, including creation of a training program for link workers and an evaluation study on the impact and effectiveness of social prescribing.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT

Output 1 Develop a training manual on implementing social prescribing in communities. The manual should include details on how to conduct patient assessment, how to develop and implement individualized mental healthcare plan, and how to seek resources for scaling up social prescribing.

Deliverable 1.1 – Develop the training curriculum.

Deliverable 1.2 – Develop the training materials for community health workers and for the course trainers.

Deliverable 1.3 – Finalize the training manual on social prescribing for the community health workers.

Output 2 – Train community health worker teams on social prescribing in a new community.

Deliverable 2.1 – Develop a plan to train community health worker teams: to include identifying the communities and local teams which could introduce social prescribing.

Deliverable 2.2 - Organize and conduct a training of trainers (TOT), using the training manual and materials developed (deliverables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3).

Deliverable 2.3 – Supervise the training of the community link worker teams.

Deliverable 2.3 – Evaluate the outcome of the training program

Output 3 – Develop a study protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of social prescribing during pilot scale up.

Deliverable 3.1 – Analyse the preliminary findings from the Shangrao pilot.

Deliverable 3.2 – Design the study methodology.

Deliverable 3.3 – Prepare a study protocol.

Deliverable 3.4 – Conduct a pre-assessment in the selected population (pre-intervention)

METHODS TO CARRY OUT THE ACTIVITY

The contractor will create a training program for the link workers and facilitate scaling up of social prescribing in a new community. This will involve: (1) Focus group discussions; (2) Questionnaire survey; and (3) Teaching seminars. The training development and implementation process should be recorded and documented along the way. The study protocol will be developed using quantitative and qualitative analysis, combined with literature review.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE

The company/agency/institution should have experience implementing and evaluating public health interventions/programmes as well as experience producing written reports.

TECHNICAL SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

The company/agency/institution should have a good understanding of local health systems and organizational process, have fundamental knowledge of the social determinants of health and their implications, possess research and evaluation skills for the implementation of public health interventions.

LANGUAGES

Fluent in written and spoken English and Chinese.

COMPETENCIES

Passionate and innovative 

Fostering multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaboration 

Communicating effectively (verbal and written) 

Adhering to timelines and producing results 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• • WHO will review all the proposals and take the best proposal, based on the prevailing industry rates.
• • Implementation location will be in China.
• • Duration of contract is from 1 October 2021 - 31 December 2021 (3 months)

APPLICATIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit their Company Profile {for institutional applications}, cost and project proposal and Expression of Interest {cover letter} to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < [email protected] > by 21 September 2021. 

The cover letter should outline how their experience and qualifications make them a suitable candidate for this position and should include their proposed fee and availability.

Please use Tender Notice No. 141207 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.