Health Economist

Purpose of the Post:

The main purpose of the position is to provide technical assistance and support to Mozambique’s Ministry of Health with regards to Health Financing, Financial Protection programs, strategic planning, Financial and economic efficiency analysis of Public Health Programs, as well support the costing and budgeting of the plans and strategic documents for the health sector and capacity building programs. The position will contribute to undertaking of economic analyses and evaluations to inform planning and health financing policies or strategies, including assessments on National Health Insurance systems and Public Finance Management (PFM) reforms.

Objectives of the Programme and of the Immediate Strategic Objective:

Expected outputs of the position is to contribute to the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) programme, which has the following objectives:

• Improve governance and leadership, including reforms, to achieve UHC and
• Planning, budgeting, M&E and research in place to guarantee more and better services of health based on people needs.

Organizational Context (Describe the work environment, the role of the individual within the team – team member, specialist, adviser, facilitator, coordinator/manager, representative, expert, authority in the field, etc; available guidelines and degree of independence in decision making, and nature and purpose of contact within and outside the Organization):

The incumbent of the position is part of the ULC Cluster team and will work in collaboration with the technical officers of the cluster under supervision of ULC cluster lead and the oversight of the WHO Representative in Mozambique. She/he will work closely with the national counterparts at the Ministry of Health responsible for Health Economic, Financing and Planning programs and departments at central and provincial level, and with responsible of strategic departments within Ministry of Finance. She/he will be supported by the MCAT Health Economy Officer and by the Health Governance and Finance team from the Regional Office, Brazzaville, and the Headquarters in Geneva.

Summary of Assigned Duties (Describe what the incumbent has to do to achieve main objectives; include main achievements expected):

1.Provide technical advice and expertise for the development of Health Financing and Financial Protection policies, strategies, and its respective implementation throughout all the stakeholders, including Ministry of Finances and partners.

2. Provide technical assistance to develop, implement and monitor the National Health Financing Strategy, including its dissemination amongst parliamentarians, development partners and other stakeholders.

3.Lead and enhance partnership in health financing mechanisms among stakeholders, designing and monitoring of National Health Insurance and assessing Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms to improve efficiency of health programs.

4.Create awareness of the need for economic and financial analysis and evaluations to inform strategic planning and decision making for health and financial policies.

5.Contribute to strengthening capacity to undertake economic analysis, evaluations, and research to generate evidence for planning, advancing policies and programs, together with MoH and/or National Health Institute and Research Institutions.

6.Review and assess national health financing information and recommend methods for improvement of data collection and National Health Accounts.

7. provide technical support to MoH to conduct in regular basis National Health Accounts.

8.Promote WHO policies, programs and guidelines in health financing through analysis of health services financing strategies aimed at providing recommendations for improving health financing.

9.Follow up and support PFM reforms within Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finances (MEF) mostly related with Planning and budgeting.

10.Coordination, leadership and engagement with other UN agencies and partners to enhance action related to health financing policy towards UHC.

11.Coordination whitin other UN agencies the joint budget exercise of the annual planning for MoH.

12. Provide technical support in terms of training the MoH staff to conduct costing and budget of strategic documents and plans.

13.Contribute and support health programs in financial resources mobilization, including at WHO Country Office.

14.Promote a good coordination mechanism and engagement with partners and donors for health financing mechanisms.

15. Participate and contribute through different existing platform on health financing and sustainability of the health system.

16.Perform all other related duties as assigned.

Competencies

• Teamwork.
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences.
• Techical Expertise
• Producing result
• Building and promoting partnerships across the Organization and beyond.

Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post):

• Good knowledge of country situation with regard to health economics capacities, understanding of health financing systems, priorities and policies, along with WHO’s policies, practices, guidelines and procedures in the related areas and ability to apply them in the country office setting.
• Good understanding of methods related to costing or impact assessment within the health sector.
• Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, make conclusions and recommendations.
• Ability to review policies and objectives of assigned program and activities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills using tact, patience and courtesy
• Good knowledge of planning and financing processes in the health sector and health coordination mechanisms and partnerships.
• Good analytical skills.
• Good public speaking and communication skills.
• Team spirit and time management skills.

Education (Qualifications)

Essential:

• University degree in economics, health economics, health financing, public health, or closely related subject.

Desirable:

• Master’s in economics, health economics, health financing, public health, epidemiology, or closely related subject.

Experience

Essential:

At least 5 years of professional experience working in national or international organizations, academia, or the private sector, in the field of health, in at least one of the two following areas:

·Health intervention costing, budgeting, expenditure tracking, estimation of resource needs, economic evaluation.

• Good knowledge of policy making, planning, and financing processes in the health sector and health coordination mechanisms and partnerships.

Desirable:

• Experience and knowledge of the work of WHO or other related UN agencies will be advantageous.
• Experience working on costing or impact assessment related to health programs or interventions.
• Experience in the development of national strategic plans.
• Experience of working with national governments, preferably ministries of health.
• Work experience using the OneHealth tool or budget module of the Integrated Health Tool for planning and costing, or other similar costing tools.

Languages:

Essential:

Excellent knowledge of the Portuguese

Working Knowledge of English or French

Desirable:

Working Knowledge of other UN Language is an advantage

Other Skills:

• Excellent computer skills (Word, Excel, Power Point, SPSS).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons recruited in the local commuting area of the duty station.