HEALTH ECONOMIST, THE DEFEAT-NCD PARTNERSHIP (INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR) – RWANDA

Health Economics, Health Policy, and Health Financing.

UNITAR is an autonomous body within the United Nations that was established in 1965 pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution. UNITAR’s mission is to develop the individual, institutional and organizational capacities of countries and other United Nations stakeholders through high-quality learning solutions and related knowledge products and services to enhance decision-making and to support country-level action for overcoming global challenges.

On 28 November 2019, at its 60th session, the UNITAR Board of Trustees took note of and endorsed, the Operations Agreement between UNITAR and The Defeat-NCD Partnership (dated 23 July 2019) to host the secretariat of the Partnership. UNITAR houses the secretariat of the Defeat-NCD Partnership and other relevant strategic initiatives working in the field of noncommunicable diseases and addressing related risk factors – such as road crashes, deaths and injuries, and assisted technologies for improved health outcomes.

The Defeat-NCD Partnership is a multi-stakeholder partnership anchored in the United Nations and includes governments, multilateral agencies, civil society, academia, philanthropies, and the private sector. It was established in January 2018 to help tackle the most significant global health problems of the age: premature death, sickness, disability, and the associated social and economic impacts of selected non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is based on the expert guidance and the technical norms and standards issued by the World Health Organization for managing NCDs.

The Government of Rwanda is part of the Governance Mechanism of The Defeat-NCD Partnership. Specifically, the Minister of Health is a member of the High-Level Council, and the Director, Non-Communicable Disease Control Progamme, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, is a member of the Consultative Group.

The general objective of this assignment is to lead the technical and programmatic areas of our work focused on health system costing and financing. The incumbent will also be responsible to co-lead the production of the national costed action plan for NCDs and identify various financing solutions.

This assignment will enable populations in Rwanda and the other priority countries to access a range of interconnected essential services and resources through four pillars of interventions:

NCD NATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING (PILLAR 1):

Work with governments and other in-country stakeholders to assess gaps in their NCD capabilities. Through technical support develop a multi-year NCD National Costed Action Plan. Facilitate engagement of relevant partners to ensure expansion of NCD services in line with national targets. The overall objective is to ensure that countries have institutional capacities, structures, systems, and financing in place to tackle NCDs.

COMMUNITY SCALE-UP OF NCD SERVICES (PILLAR 2):

The Partnership aims to demystify, democratise, decentralise, and where safely possible, demedicalise NCD service provision. Enable the earlier screening and management of risk factors as well as the mitigation of established disease, at the community level. By increasing the use of self-care interventions, improve patient compliance, resulting in better treatment and health outcomes. The overall objective is to bring more of the necessary prevention and management of NCD services directly to the communities and people who need them most.

AFFORDABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF ESSENTIAL NCD SUPPLIES (PILLAR 3):

To make the provision of NCD supplies simpler and more cost-effective by designing a Marketplace to create a fair, competitive environment that serves the interests of both buyers and suppliers. Using market-sizing and price-tracking studies, the Marketplace’s methodology will correct current market failures due to information imbalances. It will also help address regulatory bottlenecks in an appropriate manner. The overall objective is to enable the consistent provision of affordable essential NCD medicines, diagnostics, and equipment in low-resource countries.

SUSTAINABLE NCD FINANCING (PILLAR 4):

Governments need to invest more in health, with a greater share allocated to finance their national costed action plans for NCDs. While cost savings can be achieved by linking NCD programming with other conditions and improving service delivery and by reducing the cost of NCD supplies, additional and innovative financing will be needed outside of the ongoing aid support and expanding fiscal allocations. The overall objective is to establish a long-term sustainable financing model for NCD programming in low-resource countries.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Programme Coordinator for Rwanda, the Health Economist will provide key technical and programmatic support to advance the Defeat-NCD strategy and implement the NCD work-programme in country.

The incumbent will perform the following duties:

• Together with the Public Health Specialist, lead the methodology design and development of the national costed action plan for NCDs with a special attention to the costing part..
• Conduct and keep an updated situation analysis of the availability and affordability of NCD Services, Financing and Supplies in country.
• Develop guidance on health financing and how best to maximize strategic purchasing strategies for health services and NCD Supplies.
• Conduct research, analyze and model data to develop a sound programme strategy in country.
• Evaluate policies and advice their economic impact on the country’s health care system and its sustainability.
• Write the Rwanda Chapter of the Market Monitoring Service and The State of the World’s Essential Medicines and Diagnostic Supplies for Noncommunicable Diseases report.
• Support the evaluation of the economic potential of an innovative startup and its services for NCDs. Advice on scaling up the models and where the benefits can be leveraged in a basket of other services.
• Pro-actively identify market access opportunities through effective planning and development of financially sound business proposals.
• Monitor the programme activities under the four pillars of work and seek digitization opportunities for data, content and analytics.
• Analyse results of programming, incorporate lessons learned, and proactively share these with the Health Economist in Myanmar and other countries.
• Prepare briefing notes as requested for (i) the Programme Coordinator for Rwanda and (ii) Government of Rwanda officials (including the Minister of Health) to showcase Rwanda’s work on tackling NCDs nationally and internationally.
• Provide timely monthly financial and narrative written updates on the developments and implementation of the country programming.

1. Publishing of the national costed action plan on NCDs for Rwanda by the end of July 2020.
2. The Rwanda chapter of the Market Monitoring Service and The State of the World’s Essential Medicines and Diagnostic Supplies for Noncommunicable Diseases report are ready by the beginning of August 2020.
3. Number of quality research and technical briefs presented.

• Timely and quality submission of deliverables.
• Activities implemented with a high degree of effectiveness and efficiency.
• High degree of professionalism demonstrated by the individual contractor.

• Excellent research skills and ability to analyze findings to make appropriate use.
• Right balance of mathematical and analytical aptitude to comprehend the economic aspects thoroughly.
• Demonstrated diplomatic skills and excellent interpersonal skills with sensitivity to cultural and political differences.
• Ability to establish a high level of trust and confidentiality internally and credibility externally.
• Good knowledge and experience of outreach and internal communication tools for a wide range of audience.