International or National Consultant-Researcher

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Agency:
UNODC
Project:
Scaling up and improving access to HIV prevention and treatment programs for high risk groups in the Russian Federation
Duration:
21 days (from 1 May to 5 June 2008
Expiry Date:
2008-04-04
Description:

Background

As of December 2007, around 416,000 cases of HIV were officially registered in the Russian Federation. The number of people officially registered with HIV/AIDS in the country has increased almost 80-fold in just over a decade. The epidemic disproportionately affects injecting drug users (IDUs) and sex workers and other young people (i.e. under the age of 30). At the moment, around two-thirds of HIV cases registered in the Russian Federation is due to injecting drug use and prevalence rates among some IDU groups in some Russian cities exceeds 60% although rates vary widely by geographic region. Another particularly vulnerable and marginalized population which is increasingly affected by HIV/AIDS is prisoners, many of whom are IDUs. Recent estimates show that prisoners in Russia have a reported prevalence rate of more than 4%. Among these, it is estimated that 90% are IDUs.

To help the Russian Government deal with the twin epidemics of HIV and injecting drug use, the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for Russia and Belarus (RORB) within the framework of the UNAIDS initiative Coordination in Action: Applying the Three Ones Principles in the Russian Federation, is implementing a project which aims to scale-up effective HIV prevention and care services for IDUs and in prison settings. As part and parcel of the project activities, RORB is advocating for the introduction of opioid substitution therapy (e.g. methadone maintenance treatment), an increase in the number of needle and syringe programmes, the scaling-up of outreach services and a range of other effective interventions. Additionally, RORB is working with Russian law enforcement agencies to enhance their understanding of HIV and injecting drug use and the contributing factors and drivers of the epidemics and also to facilitate improved awareness of, and attitudes to, IDUS and other high-risk groups.

Goal of contracting

Against this background, RORB is looking to contract a consultant-researcher (either free-lance or working for an institute/organization/company) to collect, collate data relating to HIV infection rates among IDUs and in prison settings and the public health and criminal justice responses in specified countries. (These data will be used to produce a series of thematic maps which portray quantitative data and RORB is in the process of contracting a graphic design agency/company/studio to produce the maps.) The target audiences for the maps are senior policy makers, law enforcement officers and HIV prevention practitioners and trainers working in Russia.

For the most part, it is expected that the data will be drawn from documents published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNODC, and UNAIDS publications. Data and information from other sources (e.g. country reports, publications in academic journals, and police and health department annual reports) also provide a wealth of information and will also be utilized. The contracted researcher will work closely with the design company contracted and provide it with the data and information in a form which can be readily understood and easily rendered as maps and supporting text and/or graphic images.

All countries with significant populations of IDUs will be considered for inclusion in the mapping exercise. Of course, in some cases, specific data might be difficult to obtain or sparse in nature in which cases these points will be reflected in the map legends.

The countries depicted will include all those where injecting drug use contributes to their annual HIV infection rates. Specifically, this includes the majority of those countries comprising Western and Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North America, South and South-East Asia, East Asia, some countries in Latin America, some countries in North Africa and the Middle East, some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean (chiefly Bermuda and Puerto Rica), and Oceania (chiefly Australia).

Country maps: data and information

Specifically, the country political maps will depict the following:

1) Global HIV infection rates for 1995 - 2007 (including a global summary of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: the number of people living with HIV in 2007, people newly infected with HIV in 2007, and AIDS deaths in 2007).

2) The number, where known, of male and female IDUs (total numbers to be shown) for: 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006 and 2007

3) The number, where known, of male and female heroin addicts (total numbers to be shown) for: 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006 and, if available, 2007

4) The number, where known, of male and female cocaine addicts (total numbers to be shown) for the following years: 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006 and, if available, 2007

5) The number, where known, of male and female drug misusers serving prison sentences (total numbers to be shown) for: 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006 and, if available, 2007

6) The number, where known, of males and females serving a prison sentence for one or more drug trafficking offences (total numbers to be shown) for the following years: 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006 and, if available, 2007

7) The proportion of prisoners estimated to be infected with HIV

8) The number, where known, of drug overdose deaths (specify main drug identified if known) for the following years: 2000 – 2006 and, if available, 2007

9) Alternatives to prosecution for minor drug offences (warnings, cautioning, administrative proceedings etc.)

10) Legislation/administrative guidance or operational practice specifying threshold amounts for prosecution for possession and/or trafficking offences

11) The number of Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSPs), the year they were established and whether the supply of injecting paraphernalia is specifically covered by law

12) Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) programmes (broken down by methadone, injectable methadone (UK only), diamorphine (the Netherlands, UK and Switzerland), buprenorphine, slow-release morphine, and dihyrocodeine, and the year these programmes were introduced

13) Criminal justice drug intervention programmes (drug courts, drug referral schemes, drug treatment and testing orders etc.)

14) The number of males and females in OST programmes (total numbers to be shown)

15) Incidence of HIV among male and female IDUs for years 1995 – 2007

16) Prevalence of HIV among male and female IDUs for years 1995 - 2007

17) Percentage of male and female IDU-related HIV among all registered HIV cases

18) The number of seizures of methadone for 1975, 1986, 1996, 2006 and, if available, 2007

19) The number of seizures of buprenorphine for 1986, 1996, 2006 and, if available, 2007

20) The percentage of HIV infected persons receiving anti-retroviral treatment

Qualifications and experience of the contracted consultant-researcher

The contracted consultant- researcher will:

• hold a post-graduate degree in sociology, public health, statistics or criminology

• have at least 5 years’ experience working as a senior researcher, epidemiologist, or statistician with an institute/organization/company working in the field of drug misuse/trafficking or HIV/AIDS

• have published at least six papers in academic journals

• be fluent in written and spoken English

The ability to read Russian, Spanish or French will be an advantage.

Specific tasks of the researcher contracted

The contracted consultant-researcher will work under the supervision of UNODC Regional Drug and HIV/AIDS Expert and the UNODC Project Coordinator based in Moscow and will closely collaborate with the consultant graphic designer(s) contracted to produce the maps. Specifically, the consultant-researcher will be required to fulfill the following tasks:

• collect and collate the data referred to in paragraphs 1 -20 above

• provide these data and related information to the graphic designer contracted to produce the thematic maps and maintain regular contact with him/her

• maintain regular contact with RORB for the duration of the assignment

Contracting

UNODC will request UNDP to issue an agreement to a successful candidate for a period of time not exceeding 21 working days. The fee for services will be paid based on the standard daily rates for the external consultants. If requested, UNODC will cover travel expenses of a contractor according to UN Rules and Regulations.

Requirements for the interested researcher

The interested researcher must submit the following documents in ENGLISH:

1) an application letter

2) his/her CV

3) a budget (in USD for researchers outside the Russian Federation and in Rubles for researchers located within the Russian Federation)

4) a list (in the form of an Appendix) of his/her publications

Contact Us:

All applications should be sent to UNODC Regional Office for Russia and Belarus by e-mail fo.russia@unodc.org or by fax +7 495 787 2129. Tel.: + 7 495 787 2188

For further information please contact Geoffrey Monaghan, Regional Drug and HIV/AIDS Expert, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for Russia and Belarus

E-mail: geoff.monaghan@unodc.org

Tel.: + 7 495 787 2163