Background and justification

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, known more commonly as ICF, is a classification of health and health-related domains. As the functioning and disability of an individual occurs in a context, ICF also includes a list of environmental factors. ICF is the WHO framework for measuring health and disability at both individual and population levels. ICF was officially endorsed by all 191 WHO Member States in the Fifty-fourth World Health Assembly on 22 May 2001(resolution WHA 54.21) as the international standard to describe and measure health and disability. ICF is operationalized through the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0). WHODAS 2.0 was developed through a collaborative international approach with the aim of developing a single generic instrument for assessing health status and disability across different cultures and settings.

ICF belongs to the WHO family of international classifications, the best known member of which is the ICD-10 (the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). ICD-10 gives users an etiological framework for the classification, by diagnosis, of diseases, disorders and other health conditions. By contrast, ICF classifies functioning and disability associated with health conditions. The ICD-10 and ICF are therefore complementary, and users are encouraged to use them together to create a broader and more meaningful picture of the experience of health of individuals and populations. Information on mortality (provided by ICD-10) and information about health and health-related outcomes (provided by ICF) can be combined in summary measures of population health. In short, ICD-10 is mainly used to classify causes of death, but ICF classifies health.

Studies show that diagnosis alone does not predict service needs, length of hospitalization, and level of care or functional outcomes. Nor is the presence of a disease or disorder an accurate predictor of receipt of disability benefits, work performance, return to work potential, or likelihood of social integration. This means that if we use a medical classification of diagnoses alone we will not have the information we need for health planning and management purposes. What we lack is data about levels of functioning and disability. ICF makes it possible to collect those vital data in a consistent and internationally comparable manner.

For basic public health purposes, including determining the overall health of populations, the prevalence and incidence of non-fatal health outcomes, and to measure health care needs and the performance and effectiveness of health care systems, we need reliable and comparable data on the health of individuals and populations. ICF provides the framework and classification system for these purposes. Because of its flexible framework, the detail and completeness of its classifications and the fact that each domain is operationally defined, with inclusions and exclusions, it is expected that ICF, like its predecessor, will be used for a myriad of uses to answer a wide range of questions involving clinical, research and policy development issues.

Purpose/Specific Objective of the Activity

The purposes of this activity are to (1) train senior staff from the ministry of health and the national statistics office on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and (2) train community-based rehabilitation and health statistics workers on related data management for Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR).

Description of activities to be carried out

The contractual partner is expected to organize, administer and implement all the activities necessary to achieve the purpose of this activity.

Specifically, the contractual partner will:

(a) Prepare the data management for CBR and ICF training/workshop materials for Solomon Islands; and

(b) Deliver the training workshops for data management for CBR and ICF.

Implementation, management and monitoring arrangements

The selected contractual partner will work under the supervision of:
Responsible Officer:
Dr Albert Francis Domingo, Technical Officer for NCD prevention and control, WP/ACO/SLB
Email: [email protected]

Manager:
Dr Sevil Huseynova, WHO Representative, WP/ACO/SLB
Email: [email protected]

Education 

The contractual partner should have at least one responsible officer that meets these requirements:

Degree in public health, social sciences, data, information systems or similar

Experience
The contractual partner should have at least one responsible officer that meets these requirements:

Minimum 5 years relevant experience in health, including public health programmes.
Experience working with the UN system, WHO or international organizations an advantage.

Skills
(1) training development;
(2) training delivery and coordination;
(3) knowledge of data and health information systems issues; and
(4) community-based rehabilitation and community development experience.

Languages

Written and spoken fluency in English is essential.  Working knowledge of other UN languages is an advantage.

Competencies

1. Communicating in a credible, effective, and culturally competent way
2. Moving forward in a changing environment
3. Fostering integration and teamwork
4. Producing results

Interested should submit following documents to [email protected] by 17th August 2017. Please use Tender Notice No. 60528 as subject for all submissions.

• Expression of interest (cover letter)
• WHO personal history form or CV

Please note that the application may be closed before the indicated closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received. Only the successful candidates will be contacted