Consultant (#VN037) (WHO)

Background

The institutionalization of tracking health expenditures is important to having a strong health policy development and feedback mechanism process. Health expenditure information is needed to revise health financing policies and monitor health systems performance. Since 2017 the World Health Organization, OECD, and Eurostat have supported the reporting of health expenditure estimates using the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework, which provides international standards for classifying health expenditures.

Viet Nam has transitioned to using the SHA 2011 framework since 2017 to report health expenditures and produced COVID-19 expenditures for 2020. WHO has supported the Ministry of Health in the transition to SHA 2011 and also in tracking COVID-19 expenditures based on the strong whole-of-government response to managing the COVID-19 outbreak. The Ministry of Health of Viet Nam requests WHO to continue to support the production and use of health expenditure information for 2020 and 2021 estimates based on the SHA 2011 framework and the COVID-19 expenditures for 2021.

As Viet Nam moves to a sustained management of the COVID-19 outbreak, understanding how the COVID-19 response was financed and the impact of COVID-19 on health expenditures would be useful for developing future health financing policies to strengthen health security in Viet Nam.

Based on these requests, WHO plans to support the Ministry of Health in the production and use of 2020 and 2021 health expenditure estimates and COVID-19 estimates for 2021, including a short-term local consultancy to support the health accounts team in the Ministry of Health.

The short-term consultancy is part-time, with a total of 63 days.

Job Details

Job Title: National STC on tracking health expenditures
Start date: 1 August 2023 (subject to confirmation)
End date: 15 December 2023
Number of working days as a consultant: 63 non-consecutive working days
Place of assignment: Under the guidance of the UHC-HLE Team Coordinator and relevant technical staff, the consultant will be based off-site
Medical clearance: A fitness of work clearance will be required, including for off-site consultants
Travel: Travel is not required
Budget:Please take note of the following when submitting application: The contractor will be responsible for paying taxes, if any.

Work to be performed

Method(s) to carry out the activity

The work will involve, but not be limited to, building capacity of and supporting the MOH health accounts team in the production and use of health expenditure estimates, coordination of data collection across various stakeholders, and improvement of data quality and methodology; participating in technical meetings and workshops; and contributing to the finalization of health expenditure estimates and report for 2020 and 2021, and COVID-19 related expenditures for 2021.

The consultant will work closely with the health accounts team in the Department of Planning and Finance in the Ministry of Health to produce health expenditure estimates based on the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework and facilitate collaboration with other Departments, Ministries, and relevant stakeholders.

Under the overall supervision of Team Coordinator, Universal Health Coverage, the consultant will work directly with the national government (Ministry of Health and relevant institutions) and stakeholders, on the following outputs:

Output/s

Output 1: Effective technical support provided on the 2020 and 2021 expenditure estimation production process, including data collection, development of distribution keys, mapping, analyses, and drafting of health expenditure reports in collaboration with key stakeholders across Departments of the Ministry of Health, Ministries, and other health partners.

Deliverable 1: Completed health accounts production tool files based on health expenditure data for 2020 and 2021 (15 days – 12 August 2023)
Deliverable 2: Updated funding flows diagram and summary of notes on data sources, methods, and assumptions used in the methodology (3 days – 30 August 2023)
Deliverable 3: Update of 2020 and 2021 estimates and recommendations to the health expenditure reports for 2020 and 2021 (25 days – 30 October 2023)

Output 2: Effective support provided on the study on COVID-19 related expenditures and other health expenditures for 2021

Deliverable 1: COVID-19 related expenditure report, including data mapping and analyses, for 2021 and impact on general health expenditures comparing data with 2019 and 2020 (20 days – 15 December 2023)

Specific requirements

Educational Qualifications required

Essential: Bachelor degree in relevant areas including medicine, public health, health economics, or social science from a recognised university.
Desirable: Postgraduate degree in relevant areas including health financing, health economics, health policy, health administration, or social science from a recognised university.

Experience required

Essential: At least 7 years of experience in relevant areas including health financing and health policy development
Desirable: Prior experience of working with the Government of Viet Nam or in the Western Pacific Region on health financing related issues will be considered an advantage. Also, prior experience working on tracking health expenditures.

Skills/Knowledge

Strong quantitative, analytical, and communication skills
Ability to write and work with health expenditure data
Knowledge of the health system in Viet Nam desirable
Specific technical knowledge on estimation of health expenditures considered an asset

Languages and level required