Liberia: Health Economist/Health Finance Advisor
Country: Liberia
Closing date: 17 Feb 2014
Overall Responsibilities
MSH is seeking candidates for a for a five-year USAID/Liberia project in the area of health systems strengthening and quality improvement. The project will support the Global Health Initiative’s Liberia Strategy’s overall Goal to Improve the health and social welfare status of the population on an equitable basis, to be achieved through the following objectives: (1) Increasing access to and utilization of high quality services, (2) Making services more responsive to the population with an attention to equity, and (3) Providing services that are affordable to the country.
Working under the direction of the COP, the Health Economist/Health Finance Advisor will have responsibility for playing a systems strengthening role by leading development and implementation of the project’s health finance interventions, including: support of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW); development of health finance options for Liberia; support of Performance-based Financing (PBF); assessment and analysis of health finance issues and testing of alternative models for financial risk protection; support for the expanded implementation of the Essential Package of Health Services; capacity building for health finance; coordination and monitoring of health finance interventions; and ensuring institutionalization and sustainability of the project’s health finance achievements.
Specific Responsibilities
Support the MOHSW to improve resource mobilization and resource allocation for health service delivery and to develop/improve supportive health policies and management practices.
Work with MOHSW counterparts at central and county levels to explore short- and long-term health financing options to reduce out-of-pocket payments and expand access to quality health services.
Support the nationwide scale-up of performance-based financing, including assistance to transition from performance-based contracting of NGOs to public sector PBF, institutionalizing incentives for productivity and quality.
Develop and pilot options for expanding health insurance coverage/financial risk protection for lower income quartiles, such as community-based health insurance.
Support the expanded implementation of the Essential Package of Health Services through any modifications of the “Free Care” model and any needed additions or re-costing as the health finance system is developed.
Coordinate with Oversight Committees, Technical Working Groups, County Health and Social Work Teams and other stakeholders to ensure that necessary health finance interventions are reflected in project objectives and indicators.
Review technical performance of the project and counterparts in meeting target indicators for health finance; conduct and/or support health finance impact evaluation and other related health financing studies as needed.
Analyze feasibility and implement plans to scale up, institutionalize and sustain health finance interventions beyond the life of the project.
Provide training and other capacity building to staff and counterparts as required; identify needs for health finance STTA.
Work with the COP and other technical leaders on the project to ensure coordination and achievement of all technical requirements.
Qualifications
The proposed Health Economist/Health Finance Advisor must have a minimum of 8 years of experience in designing and implementing health finance interventions in developing or middle income countries.
S/he must have at a minimum a Master’s Degree in economics or social science, or a related advanced degree relevant to the field of public health or business or public administration.
S/he should have demonstrated experience with Health Finance Policy, Financial Management, Public Expenditure Reviews, National Health Accounts, Health Service Contracting and Performance-based Financing, Costing of Benefit Packages, Benefit Analysis, Financial Risk Protection and Health Insurance Models.
Prior experience in capacity building of health finance counterparts is strongly preferred.
Professional proficiency in spoken and written English is required.
Management Sciences for Health is an equal opportunity employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental handicap, or status as a disabled or Vietnam Era veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.
How to apply:
**To apply for this position, please submit a resume to https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/7017/health-economist-health-finance-adv.... For more information about MSH, please visit our web site at www.msh.org. If you cannot apply online or have difficulty doing so, please email an explanation of your problem to iRecruiterproblem@msh.org .
