Call for Expressions of Interest and Proposal

#036: A contracting partner to provide technical support to the WHO Viet Nam
Country Office in conducting an assessment on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
(KAP) of the pre-packaged food industry regarding nutrition labelling
regulations and salt level target recommendations for prepackaged food.

1. Background

Viet Nam is facing the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which includes four out of every ten deaths attributed to heart disease, with hypertension as the leading cause. There was a significant increase in the prevalence of raised blood pressure from almost 19% in 2015 to over 26% in 2021. One important risk factor of hypertension and some other NCDs is excessive consumption of salt. Average salt consumption in Viet Nam is 8.1gr per day per person, which is 60% higher than WHO recommendations (less than 5g per day). Creating supportive environments to motivate people to choose healthier diets including less salt consumption is one of the key interventions to help reduce NCD risk factors and address this preventable disease burden.

With support from the WHO Viet Nam and Resolve To Save Lives (RTSL), in December 2023, with WHO and development partner support, the Ministry of Health issued Circular No. 29 on “Guidance on the content and how to write nutritional ingredients and nutritional value on food labels”. The Circular is the first-ever policy requirement for nutrition labelling in Viet Nam. Foods produced, traded, imported, and circulated in Viet Nam must have the nutritional ingredients recorded on their packages. In addition, in March 2024, the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine issued Guideline No. 249 on “Recommendations for maximum sodium in processed and packaged foods” for some commonly used pre-packaged foods in Vietnam.

These policies if well enforced, will contribute directly to the implementation of the National Strategy for NCDs Prevention and Control 2015-2025. Although, the implementation of these policies is heavily dependent on the food industry, to date, there is no data regarding pre-packaged food industry knowledge of and attitudes towards the new nutrition labelling circular and the sodium recommendations. This data is needed to enable an evidence informed approach to communications and engagement targeting the food industry, with an aim to support the successful uptake and implementation of these new regulations and recommendations.

2. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation):

Start date: 01/10/2024
End date: 30/12/2024

3. Work to be performed

Method to carry out the activity

The research/assessment team will work in close collaboration with WHO CO, WHO HQ, and Resolve to Save Lives to produce the following outputs/deliverables:

Output 1: Develop the methodology for baseline assessment.

• Deliverable 1: Draft of Protocol of the assessment of KAP of pre-packaged food industry on nutrition labelling regulation and salt level target recommendations of prepacked food (10 Oct 2024)
• Deliverable 2: Finalized indicators, tools and assessment agenda in English and Vietnamese after getting comments from all relevant experts from MOH, NIN, WHO and RTSL (30 October 2024)

Output 2: Conduct assessment.

• Deliverable 3: Data collection is completed, data set is cleaned and analyzed, and a report is generated (20 December 2024)

4. Specific requirements

Experiences:

The assessment team is expected to have the following experiences:

Essential:

• Experience in conducting market research with commercial organizations, preferably the food industry
• Experience with market research in Viet Nam
• At least 5-10 years of experience in conducting market research, data analysis, and writing reports
• Knowledge of principles of good practices in market research

Desirable:

• Working experience with the prepackaged food industry
• Working experiences with international companies, agencies/UN partners

Technical skills and knowledge:

• Ability to interact with industry, health and other professionals at various levels and to work with government officials and nongovernmental organizations.

Language requirements:

• Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English and Vietnamese

Competencies

• Communication
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences.
• Ability to demonstrate gender equality and cultural appropriateness within the office and among partners.
• Producing results

5. Place of assignment

Viet Nam.

6. Medical clearance

Medical clearance is not required for this contractual partner.

7. Travel

Travel to project target will be required.

8. Budget

Please take note of the following when submitting application:

- The contractor will be responsible for paying taxes, if any.

Those who are interested can submit application letter, proposal and budget indicating post title and vacancy notice # on or before 27 September 2024 and should be addressed to:

[email protected]

For further information on this TOR, please contact:

[email protected]

Organization: WHO
Location:
Application deadline: 2024-09-27
Send application to: [email protected]