ABOUT THE COMPANY:

Our goal is to build a better, healthier future for people all over the world. Working through offices in more than 150 countries, WHO staff work side by side with governments and other partners to ensure the highest attainable level of health for all people.

Purpose of consultancy

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) requires access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines, vaccines and health products. Equity in public health depends on access to essential, high-quality and affordable essential medicines and health technologies for all.

However, approximately half the world’s population lacks access to such essential health-related technologies, specifically essential medicines.

The purpose of this short-term consultancy (STC) is to support one ensuring access to essential medicines in Member States through an update of essential medicines lists in Member States, finalization of a pharmaceutical profile, development of training materials and tools on medicines supply management and antimicrobial consumption surveillance as required.

Background

Moving towards UHC requires that countries concentrate efforts on supporting a people-centred health system with primary care as its foundation, and essential medicines, community-based services, health promotion and disease prevention as key components.

A comprehensive assessment of the pharmaceutical sector helps to determine what the gaps are in order to design effective interventions and allows evaluation of the impact of interventions over time.

Different tools exist to measure key aspects of the pharmaceutical sector and systematically monitor the progress of efforts to improve access to essential medicines.

In collaboration with OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), WHO published “How pharmaceutical systems are organized in Asia and the Pacific” in 2018.  It outlines resources, structures and processes relating to ensuring availability and accessibility of pharmaceuticals in specific country settings and their interactions with the health-care system.

Selection of a limited number of essential medicines, taking into consideration national disease burden and clinical need, can lead to improved access through streamlined procurement and distribution of quality-assured medicines, support more rational or appropriate prescribing and use, and lower costs both for healthcare systems and for patients.

[1] In 2017, WHO developed the AWaRe classification of antibiotics as a tool to support antibiotic stewardship efforts.

Antibiotics are classified into three groups, Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRE), taking into account the impact of different antibiotics and antibiotic classes on antimicrobial resistance, to emphasize the importance of their appropriate use. It is updated every 2 years in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines.  A number of countries in the WHO Western Pacific Region are currently updating their national essential medicines list based on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines and national treatment guidelines and tools.

The Western Pacific Regional Antimicrobial Consumption Surveillance System (WPRACSS), consisting of a web-based reporting at the national and hospital levels and a smartphone application for community pharmacy-based reporting are developed to aid and compliment the analysis of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) surveillance and monitoring in Member States.

Deliverables

Method(s) to carry out the activity

Participate in and support WHO-led regional and country level activities and initiative pertaining access to medicines activities from strategic/policy point of view.
Perform desk review of relevant global, regional and national framework, strategies and policies.
Undertake desk review of national medicines policies and essential medicines of Member States.

Output/s

Under the direction and supervision of the Technical Officer, Essential Medicines and Health Technologies, the incumbent will deliver the following outputs and products:

Output 1: Support the update of national medicines policy (NMP) and national list of essential medicines (NEML) of Member States

Deliverable 1.1  Updated national medicines policy(s) in a selected Member State(s) as requested
Deliverable 1.2  Updated NEML of at least three countries as requested.

The update should consider the WHO Model Essential Medicines List and the WHO AWaRe classification of antibiotics.
Deliverable 1.3 Mapping of NEML.

Output 2: To support the implementation of antimicrobial consumption surveillance in Member States

Deliverable 2.1  Training materials, manuals and tools on antimicrobial consumption surveillance
Deliverable 2.2 Report on technical briefings, trainings and workshops on antimicrobial consumption surveillance as requested.

Output 3: Continuing update of the pharmaceutical profile in Member States

Deliverable 3.1 Finalized methodology for updating the pharmaceutical system profile of selected countries in the Western Pacific Region
Deliverable 3.2 Draft pharmaceutical profile in selected Member States (at least 5)

Output 4: To support the organization of regional meeting and national training on access to medicines

Deliverable 4.1 Technical documents and report of the 8th meeting for Asia- Pacific Network for Access to Medicines under Universal Health Coverage, 25-26 September 2024
Deliverable 4.2 Country-tailored training materials and tools on medicines supply management including medicines quantification, consumption and expenditure analysis

Output 5: Technical reports

Deliverable 5.1    Monthly report
Deliverable 5.2    Complete technical report with deliverables at the end of the assignment

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential:  University degree in pharmacy, medicine or relevant fields such as clinical pharmacology or health economics.
Desirable:  Advanced degree and/or training on international health, public health, pharmaceutical affairs, pharmaceutical policies and/or related field.

Experience

Essential: Minimum five years of experience working in the areas of essential medicines and health technologies with a focus on pharmaceutical policies and pharmaceutical affairs.

Skills/Knowledge

• Demonstrated expertise working in medicines with a good understanding about health and pharmaceutical systems and access to medicines.
• Ability to work independently and in close collaboration with WHO
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Attention to detail

Languages

Expert knowledge of English (read/write/speak).

Location

On-site: WHO Regional office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), Manila, Philippines

Travel

The consultant may be required to travel to Member States (subject to clearance) if necessary.

Remuneration and budget

Remuneration: Payband level B, USD 7437.50/month
A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited.
Expected duration of contract: 4 months, September to December 2024

Additional Information:

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for 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.

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The WHO recruits workforce regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.
The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce.

Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply for WHO jobs.
Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process.

Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to  reasonableaccommodation@who.int

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. 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 (https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values) 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 short-listed candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority.
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The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.

• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW).

The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition.

A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website.

For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.

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