Consultant - Health inequality monitoring analysis

Purpose of consultancy

The WHO Health Inequality Monitoring team in the Department for Data and Analytics (DNA) in Geneva is seeking a consultant to provide analytical support for global health inequality monitoring.

Background

Monitoring health inequalities and their drivers is crucial to achieve health equity, which is a key element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aspiration to “leave no one behind” as well as the World Health Organization’s 13th General Programme of Work (GPW 13). Health inequality monitoring is vital for tracking progress towards universal health coverage to ensure that disadvantaged populations achieve accelerated gains alongside overall improvement in the broader population, thus narrowing coverage gaps.

The health inequality monitoring team at the World Health Organization has developed a package of tools and resources to support inequality monitoring at global and national levels, including a health inequality monitoring handbook, two step-by-step manuals, the Health Inequality Data Repository, and the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit. WHO has substantial experience in developing inequality monitoring tools as well as in building capacity in this area among countries. In addition, WHO conducts monitoring of health inequalities and produces global and national reports of the state of inequality in various health topics.

The team has a five-year strategy (2022-2027) that includes three strategic goals: (1) strengthening capacity for health inequality monitoring at country, regional and global levels; (2) generating the latest evidence on health inequality; and (3) developing and refining health inequality monitoring methods, tools, resources and best practices.

Deliverables

• Within the period of the contract, the consultant will contribute to:

  • Deliverable 1: Releasing the next edition of the Health Inequality Data Repository (HIDR): Analytical support required includes conducting data scoping to identify further data to include in the HIDR; and cleaning and processing identified datasets in the correct format for upload to the HIDR.

  • Deliverable 2: Developing a Global Health Inequality Monitoring Atlas (hereafter referred to as the “Atlas”) of country policies, capacities and resources for inequality monitoring, identifying health inequality monitoring gaps, needs, and solution options for accelerating countries’ capacities to monitor inequalities. Analytical support required involves analysing data collected from countries via a survey, and summarising and reporting the key findings.

  • Deliverable 3: Developing the first global report exploring the state of inequality in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors. Analytical support required includes conducting data scoping; performing comprehensive statistical analysis of micro-level and disaggregated data; and summarizing and reporting findings.

  • Deliverable 4: Producing inequality-related evidence by conducting data analysis on inequalities in health, including but not limited to inequalities in immunization, involving data collation and preparation; analysis of datasets for inter-country comparisons of inequality across different sub-populations; data visualization of results; and contribution to technical writing of analytical reports and papers.

  • Deliverable 5: Supporting capacity-building activities related to health inequality monitoring in countries.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications

Essential:

• University degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, demography, health communication, health information science, data science, or related area.

Desirable:

• Advanced university degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, demography, health communication, health information science, data science, or related area.

Experience

Essential:

• Up to 5 years’ experience in data analysis using a range of data sources on population health.
• At least 2 years’ experience in data analysis related to health inequalities.
• Experience in writing technical reports and papers, with at least 3 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience in data management.

Skills/Knowledge

Essential:

• Strong understanding of research methods and epidemiological, demographical and statistical principles.
• Excellent knowledge of Stata or R.
• Good knowledge of data visualisation techniques and software packages such as Tableau, R or similar.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail.
• Knowledge of the topic of health equity, health inequality monitoring, and equity analysis.
• Good knowledge of MS Office including SharePoint, Teams, Word and Excel.
• Ability to work independently and remotely in multidisciplinary and multicultural settings.

Languages and level required

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English

Location

Offsite: Home-based

Travel

The consultant is not expected to travel.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded)

Remuneration

Band level A: USD 198 - 349 per day or USD 3,955 - 6,980 per month

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited)

N/A

Expected duration of contract

5 months, full-time or part-time (40%-80%). Remuneration will be pro-rated accordingly. Additional contracts up to a cumulative total of 11 months may be offered, subject to satisfactory performance, continued need and funding availability.

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.
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