MOH Health Care Financing (HCF) Advisor Nathan Associates Inc.

The objective of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Revenue for Growth Activity (R4G) is to support the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) in its efforts to improve domestic resource mobilization (DRM), which can help to expand Zambia’s fiscal space for public spending and investments in service delivery and poverty reduction. R4G is engaging both government and non-government stakeholders in building capacity in tax policy analysis, improving tax compliance and administration, and strengthening tax culture in a manner that facilitates private sector growth and promotes effective relationships between taxpayers and the GRZ. R4G is organized around four Objectives: 1) Improve Tax and Non-Tax Administration and Compliance; 2) Strengthen Tax Policy; 3) Enhance Public-Private Dialogue; and 4) Enhance Capacity to Address Emerging Fiscal Policy and Management Issues.

Objective of Assignment

USAID, through its Systems for Better Health (SBH) project, supported the Ministry of Health (MOH) Health Care Financing (HCF) Unit by placing a Health Care Financing and Planning Technical Specialist in the Unit from December 2017 to December 2018. However, technical support is still required in order to operationalize the MOH’s Health Care Financing Strategy 2019 – 2027 and other health care financing policies and systems, USAID is planning to support the hiring of one Advisor to be embedded at the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) and another Advisor to be embedded at the HCF Unit at the MOH.

The Health Care Financing Advisor will support the MOH and GRZ in efforts to mobilize domestic resources for the health sector. The Advisor will report to the Head of the HCF Unit and is expected to establish effective working relationships with officials and staff of the MOH and other GRZ organizations that have a role in health care financing, including the Ministry of Finance (especially the Budget Department and units that compile and use economic and demographic information), the Zambia Statistics Agency, the Parliamentary Budget Office, Parliamentary Budget and Health Committees, university and research communities, and other organizations that may be identified during the course of the Advisor’s work. As other countries may provide valuable lessons in health care financing that can be applied in Zambia, the Advisor is expected to establish effective working relationships with health care financing officials and organizations in other countries, as well as with international donor and/or advocacy organizations involved in health care and its financing.  Collectively, these activities are expected to increase and accelerate the development of knowledge and capacity to improve health care financing in Zambia.

The roles and responsibilities of the HCF Advisor are outlined below. The Advisor will be embedded at the MOH HCF Unit and will be employed by R4G for a period of three years (contingent on successful performance), after which time the Advisor is  expected to be hired by the MOH. The HCF Advisor will report to the MOH HCF Unit and R4G.

Roles and Responsibilities of the HCF Advisor

The HCF Advisor’s roles and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

1. Explore innovative health care financing strategies such as a medical levy, sin taxes and a motor vehicle accident fund to accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage by the government, and produce a report that describes possible health care financing strategies that can be employed in Zambia.
2. Review and carry out an assessment of efficiency bottlenecks in the health sector to inform decisions to improve efficiencies, and produce a report with recommendations to reduce bottlenecks and increase efficiencies.
3. Update the resource allocation formula/framework to take into account changing needs by districts.
4. Support the development of an investment case to support increased funding for the health sector from the Ministry of Finance.
5. Work with the NHIMA Advisor employed by R4G to create a bridge between the MOH and NHIMA for issues common to both organizations.
6. Comply with all R4G project reporting requirements, including but not limited to preparing monthly, quarterly and annual reports, work plans, and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) reports.

Qualifications

The HCF Advisor will possess the following minimum qualifications. Note that some of the public sector experience may have been earned concurrently.

• An undergraduate degree in health economics, accounting, management, statistics, or a closely related field.
• A graduate degree in economics, public administration, or a medical degree.
• 5 years’ experience in working within, or directly advising, public sector agencies on the delivery, costing, and/or evaluation of human services.
• 5 years’ experience in health care delivery.
• 5 years’ experience in insurance programs.
• 3 years’ experience in cross-cutting public sector activities (i.e. involving two or more units of the same ministry or across two or more ministries).
• 3 years’ experience working with international organizations and/or two or more countries.
• 3 years’ experience developing service delivery costing models.
• Excellent English written and verbal communication skills.