RFP-Human-centric design led/behavioral study to understand care-seeking behavior & risk perception on screening of common cancers & cervical screening in particular

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RFP - “a human-centric design led / behavioral study to understand care-seeking behavior and risk perception on screening of common cancers (oral, breast, and cervical) in general, and cervical screening in particular”

About the Organization:

William J. Clinton Foundation was established in India to promote high quality medical care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, and effective care and treatment of children suffering from malnutrition, diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. WJCF’s solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to lifesaving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs.

Cancer Care in India

With an estimated annual mortality of more than 800,000 and incidence of more than 1.7M in 2020, cancer has rapidly grown into one of the leading drivers of mortality and morbidity in India. Cervical cancer, with an incidence of 14.7 per 100,000 and a mortality rate of 9.2 per 100,000, is the second leading cause of cancer mortality and morbidity among women.

A key contributor to negligible/ low screening is the absence of initiatives to raise awareness and inform beneficiaries and decision influencers on the risk and benefits of early screening. Lack of awareness of either symptoms or disease, lack of knowledge on where to go for screening, never seen or felt that it was needed, have been the factors cited for not undergoing screening. Further psychological factors such as fear that the test would be painful, anxiety about the result and embarrassment also play major role.

Program Overview in Madhya Pradesh

In 2019, WJCF initiated a program in Madhya Pradesh with the objective to develop innovative screening model for common cancers, with focus on cervical cancer, and treatment model for precancerous lesions of cervix that help shape national policy on population-based screening, adoption and deployment of new technology and strengthen referral pathways for further scale up across states.

Target Audience

With a population of ~84 million, MP – the program state - is the fifth most populous state in India and accounts for over 6% of the country’s population. A program on screening / early detection and management of common cancers, with a specific focus on cervical cancer, is being implemented across 13 identified districts in MP targeting men and women in the age group of 30-65 years (target segment for screening).

WJCF expects to leverage existing operational framework for screening of common cancers – oral, breast, and cervical: Oral Visual Examination (OVE) for Oral Cancer Screening, Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) for Breast Cancer Screening, and Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) for Cervical Cancer Screening every five years check here

To that end, WJCF is supporting the state in a cascade-model for building screening capacity, including hands-on-training on VIA, of healthcare providers across public health facilities in the program (focus) districts of the state.  

Strategic Approach of the Program

• Demand Generation
• Screening of Common Cancers and Treatment of Pre-Cancerous Lesions of Cervix
• Key Capacity Gaps that Need to be Filled and Plan to fill the Gaps
• Patient Tracking and Follow-Up Mechanism to Ensure Women Receive Appropriate Follow-Up Plan

Scope of the study:

As a precursor to the demand generation activity, WJCF is keen to undertake a study to understand the care seeking behavior and risk perception with respect to common cancers screening in general, and cervical cancer screening in particular. Through a human-centered design (HCD) approach, increasingly applied in healthcare, they would seek to create a shared understanding of context, needs and perspectives of the women and target population around cancer screening and treatment. This will enable state and national level agencies and development organizations better strategize and structure awareness and mobilization campaigns for cancers while immensely aiding WJCFs ongoing initiatives in cancer care.

Additionally, WJCF will support the government of Madhya Pradesh in creating suitable content and IEC collateral and use appropriate communication channels and influencers towards ensuring comprehensive reach in the community. This knowledge piece will also be made available to other government stakeholders and leading development partners (working on common cancers) at the national and state levels to support uptake of community-level screening of common cancers across the country.

At a fundamental level, effective healthcare service delivery constitutes three core elements:

• Beneficiary: that is aware and seeks the service
• Accessibility: ease of availability of services or the ability of a beneficiary to avail the service
• Health system: readiness to deliver services

Approach and Timelines

A Human Centric Design (HCD) approach with in-depth qualitative component will enable a better understanding of the behavioral matrix including key barriers to screening of common cancers, particularly cervical screening, and treatment of cervical dysplasia. The study should be able to prototype strategies to drive uptake of screening services, particularly cervical screening, and treatment of cervical dysplasia within distinct socio-cultural and economic beneficiary sub-segments at the community level.

For a comprehensive understanding of health seeking behavior amongst the target segment, a diverse range of population sub-groups need to be represented in the study sample. The following elements should guide the study and support selection of sample/location:

• Socio-cultural determinants to behavior: age, caste, religion, education levels
• Economic diversity: source of livelihood / economic status
• Health functionaries: to leverage existing experience and knowledge to validate sample selection
• NGOs / CSOs: can provide initial information on health seeking behavior / barriers to uptake
• Other stakeholders: to include key decision influencers (for a beneficiary) including members of the family (decision makers/influencers), frontline health/community workers etc.

Required Qualifications of the agencies

• Previous Experience (not more than 4 pages): The organization should have prior experience of conducting similar assignments
  • Describe assignments of a similar nature that were successfully completed by the firm in the last three years (maximum of 4).
  • For each of the assignments please mention the title, duration, client, role of the firm and brief description of services rendered by the firm.
  • Share representative sample deliverables such as research tools, analysis, presentations, final outputs, etc. from previous projects
  • Experience of working with an international organization and/or government organization is desirable.
  • Availability of team members with medical expertise.
  • Availability of efficient program management with strong internal control mechanism in place.
  • Experience in providing consulting services and excellent track record of completion of tasks according to timelines.

For any clarification required, please write an email to the mail id indiaadmin@clintonhealthaccess.org

If your agency decides to submit a proposal in response to this RFP, please contact us confirming your interest in submitting a proposal, not later than July 25, 2020 to the email address indiaadmin@clintonhealthaccess.org. The proposal must be submitted electronically at the email id indiaprocurement@clintonhealthaccess.org latest by August 08, 2020 by 23:59 PM.

For more information please check the Link