National or International Consultancy - Development and operationalization of the National Electronic MPDSR, Maseru, Lesotho (office based) 8 months #596433
Organizational Context
UNICEF operates in over 190 countries and territories, dedicated to saving children’s lives, defending their rights, and helping them fulfill their potential from early childhood through adolescence. We are committed, passionate, and proud of our work, viewing the promotion of every child's rights as a calling. UNICEF fosters career growth with diverse professional and personal development opportunities.
Job Purpose
The consultancy aims to support the Ministry of Health in Lesotho by designing, developing, deploying, and operationalizing a National Electronic Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response System (eMPDSR). This system will serve as the central platform for maternal and perinatal death notification, review, response tracking, analytics, and accountability. It is designed to be interoperable with existing Government of Lesotho information systems, including DHIS2, CRVS, IDSR, and other national death registration platforms. The overarching goal is to strengthen Lesotho's capacity to effectively identify, record, review, analyze, and respond to maternal, neonatal, stillbirth, and perinatal deaths through a unified, interoperable, and real-time surveillance system, ultimately improving mortality reporting, accountability, quality of care, and the reduction of preventable deaths.
Responsibilities
The consultant will be responsible for digitizing and automating all MPDSR notification, review, action-tracking, monitoring, and reporting processes as outlined in the National MPDSR Guidelines. This includes establishing a national interoperable eMPDSR platform capable of seamless data exchange with DHIS2, CRVS, IDSR, BKM, eLMIS, and other relevant government information systems involved in birth and death registration and surveillance. A key responsibility is to improve the completeness, timeliness, and quality of maternal, neonatal, stillbirth, and perinatal death reporting by establishing a dual-source surveillance approach linking community and facility-level reporting platforms. The consultant will also be tasked with providing real-time dashboards, alerts, and analytics to support the monitoring of mortality trends, causes of death, modifiable factors, review outcomes, and the implementation of corrective actions at all levels. Furthermore, strengthening accountability through systematic tracking, escalation, monitoring, and reporting of MPDSR recommendations and response actions across the health system is crucial. Finally, building national and district capacity for the sustainable management, administration, maintenance, and use of the eMPDSR platform through training, mentorship, and knowledge transfer to local institutions and personnel is a core responsibility.
Work Experience
A minimum of 10 years of progressive professional experience in designing, developing, deploying, and managing large-scale health information systems is required. Demonstrated experience leading the development and implementation of national digital health platforms in low- and middle-income countries is essential. Proven experience in developing and deploying web-based and mobile-enabled health information systems, with at least 5 years in systems integration and interoperability using international health data exchange standards, is necessary. Experience integrating health information systems with platforms like DHIS2, CRVS, or disease surveillance systems, along with proven experience in software architecture, database design, cybersecurity, and data governance, is also required.
Skills
Health Information Systems Design, Digital Health Platform Development, System Integration and Interoperability, DHIS2 Integration, CRVS Integration, IDSR Integration, Software Architecture, Database Design, Cybersecurity, Data Governance, Data Analytics and Visualization, Project Management