UN Consultancy: Consultant – Health Financing, WPRO – Manila

  • Location:
  • Salary:
    negotiable / YEAR
  • Job type:
    CONTRACTOR
  • Posted:
    1 week ago
  • Category:
    Budget and Accounting, Finance, Healthcare
  • Deadline:
    28/01/2025

JOB DESCRIPTION

Purpose of the Consultancy

This consultancy will provide technical support to the Health Policy and Service Design Unit in providing technical assistance to Member States in developing and implementing equitable and sustainable health financing strategies. The work will be guided by the various health financing analytic frameworks and tools developed by WHO and contribute to the thematic priority areas highlighted by the regional vision paper “Weaving Health for Families, Communities and Societies in the Western Pacific Region.”

Background

Over the past decade, the Western Pacific Region has made notable progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by improving access to essential health services. This progress has been largely supported by public investments in the health sector. Many countries implemented health financing strategies to expand population coverage under national health-care schemes and enhance the pooling of funds, mobilizing more resources for health.

However, despite these advancements, the share of government expenditure on health has stagnated, leading to persistent challenges in financial protection, service quality, and unmet health needs. In 2017, one in five people in the region faced catastrophic health expenditures—affecting approximately 385 million people. Meanwhile, Pacific countries face different health financing challenges, including low out-of-pocket payments at the population level but significant risks of unmet needs and forgone care due to limited-service availability and geographic barriers. Additionally, countries in the region are facing the rising costs of healthcare services, with some grappling with dependence on donor funding and challenges in sustaining essential health services. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these vulnerabilities, inflicting severe health and economic impacts globally. Finally, countries in the region are dealing with increasing demands from emergent challenges such as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), accelerated aging of populations, and health security risks.

With these challenges, elevating health financing on government agendas is more urgent than ever. Transforming health systems, and corresponding health financing models, to prioritize and support primary healthcare service delivery models that address root issues is at the heart of many government initiatives. Fiscal policy measures, such as health taxes, can create additional fiscal space while supporting health outcomes like NCD management. For countries undertaking social health insurance (SHI) reforms or updating purchasing schemes, learning from international experiences will help ensure these systems effectively contribute to universal health coverage (UHC).

By fostering equitable, efficient, and sustainable health financing strategies, WHO and its Member States can secure a future where health services are accessible, affordable, and equitable for all. This consultancy aims to generate evidence and provide technical assistance to Member States and WHO to support these efforts.

Deliverables

Method(s) to carry out the activity

  • Perform desk review of health financing systems, policies, and strategies globally and in the region
  • Collect, document, analyze and summarize relevant data and information based on reviewed materials, key informant interviews, consultations and feedback from WHO meetings and discussions.
  • Develop the required technical documents tailored to the regional and country demands and support knowledge dissemination.
  • Provide technical advice by developing policy briefs and tailoring analytics for Member States’ decision- makers and other audiences.
  • Meeting organization and facilitation.

Output/s

Under the supervision of the Health Economist/Technical Officer of Health Financing, Health Policy and Service Design, Division of Health Systems and Services, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:

Output 1: Provide technical support in priority countries in the following areas:

  • Financial mechanisms and arrangements that support transformative PHC, especially in decentralized settings, including purchasing mechanisms, benefits package design, costing, and development, resource mobilization, etc.;
  • Social health insurance governance and financing policies in specific technical areas such as (not exhaustive list) provider payment mechanism reforms, benefit package designs, claims processing, accreditation, macro-planning/actuarial analyses, amongst other areas.
  • Health tax policy and its implementation status quo, identifying opportunities, challenges, and policy options in consultation with WHO country offices.
  • Institutionalization, production, and use of national health accounts for policymaking.
  • Other key areas: donor transition, financing for priority areas such as NCDs and healthy ageing, long-term care financing, public financial management, private sector engagement and management within the health sector, among others.

Output 2: Facilitate the organization and delivery of WHO health financing meetings, workshops, trainings, and webinars in 2025. Key events include the 5th WHO advanced training on health financing (virtual); 8th bi-regional workshop on health financing policy for UHC; the WHO-OECD meeting consultations on health accounts; and the 2025 Pacific health financing workshop, trainings organized with WHO CCs, among others as requested.

Output 3: Support evidence collection and generation in the region in areas such as fiscal space for health, financial risk protection monitoring, primary health care and public hospital financing, private sector engagement and regulation, health taxes and drivers of out-of-pocket payments;
Output 4: Support the production of regional or cross-country analysis and health financing products on PHC financing models, health expenditure tracking, and/or health financing policy design and implementation.

Deliverable 1: Technical documents developed and support provided to Member States in health financing policy development and reforms, including in the areas of (not exhaustive) financing for primary health care, social health insurance governance and financing policies, health taxes, health accounts institutionalization, production and use, financing for priority areas such as NCDs and healthy ageing, long-term care financing, public financial management, private sector engagement and management within the health sector, donor transition, etc.;

Deliverable 2: Technical documents developed, and support provided to the organization and delivery of WHO health financing meetings, workshops, webinars and training activities planned in 2025.

Deliverable 3: Technical documents developed, and support provided to regional and/or cross-country work for national health accounts, financial risk protection monitoring, medicines expenditure trends and other drivers of out-of-pocket payments, fiscal space for health, primary health care and public hospital financing, private sector engagement and regulation, health taxes, and other technical areas.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: First university degree in health economics, economics, health policy, public health and/or social science or other related field from a recognized university.

Experience:

Essential: Minimum of five years relevant work experience at national and international level in the areas of health financing, health system development or related field.
Desirable: Two years of international experience in the areas of health financing/economics/public health or related field.

Skills/Knowledge:

Essential: Health financing, specifically areas such as national health accounts, social health insurance, purchasing mechanisms, donor transition, and health taxes. Demonstrated quantitative skills to produce evidence and information to strengthen health systems.
Desirable: Knowledge on health financing systems in countries in the Western Pacific Region

Language requirements:

Written and spoken fluency in English is essential. Working knowledge of other UN languages is an advantage.

Location

The selected candidate will be working in WPRO, Manila.

Travel

The Consultant is expected to have missions to the following countries: Duty Station at the Western Pacific Regional Office, Fiji and other PICs, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea.

Remuneration and budget

Remuneration: Pay band A, USD 6,000 (monthly)
Expected duration of contract: 11 months, February to December 2025

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.
•    For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
•    The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. 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.
•    WHO shall have no responsibility for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. 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.
•    In case the recruitment website does not display properly, please retry by: (i) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click the link for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements