AFRO-NETS> Vacancy in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research - WHO

[Anne Allemand <allemanda@who.ch>]

Vacancy in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research - WHO
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Dear Colleagues,

Please find attached the terms of reference for the position of Tech-
nical Officer, Impact of Health Reforms on Reproductive Health (STP 
11 months) in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at 
WHO. The candidate will be responsible for developing activities on 
this topic in the Department, and thus we are looking for a person 
with considerable expertise and experience working with the issues of 
health reform and reproductive health. 

We would greatly appreciate your informing any of your colleagues, 
friends and acquaintances who might be (or know of) appropriate can-
didates and have potential interest in working at WHO Headquarters in 
this position. Please note that although this advertisement is for an 
11-month short-term professional contract, there is a strong possi-
bility that the contract could be renewed if an appropriate individ-
ual is identified.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Van Look, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Department of Reproductive Health and Research


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Terms of Reference:
Technical Officer, Impact of Health Reforms on Reproductive Health

Duration and type of appointment: 
11 months Short Term Professional

Remuneration: 
In the range USD 5,500 to USD 6,500 per month depending on qualifica-
tions and experience

Context

Health reforms have been promoted as a means of improving many of the 
objectives of health systems, including improving equity, efficiency, 
effectiveness, quality and financial soundness. However, while it is 
likely that changes in health systems will have impact positively or 
negatively on reproductive health activities, their access, utiliza-
tion and their outcomes, little serious research has been conducted 
to date to provide evidence of how reforms affect these priority 
health issues. It has recently been considered an important role of 
the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote research efforts in 
this area to synthesize knowledge and experience and to produce pol-
icy recommendations and norms, standards and service guidelines, so 
as to promote positive interactions between health reforms and repro-
ductive health programmes and outcomes. 

The WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR) is, 
thus, commencing a new area of work investigating the impacts of 
health reforms on access to and utilization of reproductive health 
services, as well as reproductive health outcomes. In order to make a 
significant contribution in this area, the endeavour will require the 
identification of new research priorities and the development of a 
comprehensive and systematic research initiative and a Departmental 
strategy for health sector reform research. Given the variety of pos-
sible health reforms and the impact of each on different components 
of reproductive health services, this will require undertaking both 
descriptive and prospective multi-country studies so as to make a 
significant contribution to the field.

Principal Duties

The incumbent will:

Act as a member of the Policies and Programmes/Technical Cooperation 
with Countries Team of the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and 
Research (RHR) in the Cluster on Family and Community Health (FCH), 
and will be responsible for developing and managing research and pro-
gramme support activities related to the impact of health reforms on 
reproductive health policies, services and outcomes. 

Conduct a literature review of the impacts of health reform on repro-
ductive health, with the aim of identifying key priority areas for 
research.

Organize a RHR-sponsored consultation on the impact of health reforms 
intended to provide guidance to WHO on priority areas for work and 
input into appropriate research designs. This will include the iden-
tification of themes for background papers, identification of appro-
priate authors, provision of guidance to the authors of background 
papers and subsequent technical review of the papers, drafting of an 
agenda for the consultation, identification of appropriate partici-
pants and overseeing the administrative management of the consulta-
tion. Following the consultation, the incumbent is expected to draft 
a technical report. 

Identify appropriate individuals among consultation participants and 
others as appropriate, and solicit their participation as part of a 
subsequent research committee to be formed after the RHR-sponsored 
consultation to guide an initiative on the impact of health reform on 
reproductive health. 

Develop proposals for submission to bilateral donors and interna-
tional organizations seeking financial support for research on health 
reforms and their impact on reproductive health to be sponsored by 
WHO.

Develop a call for proposals and identify appropriate research insti-
tutions capable of conducting the above-mentioned research. Organize 
review of proposals.

Provide management support, monitor studies and provide technical 
support for investigators.

Travel to countries to provide technical support to researchers and 
programme managers in developing countries implementing health re-
forms or research studies on health reform and reproductive health as 
necessary.

Provide technical and managerial backstopping and assistance to coun-
try and regional offices on issues related to health reforms and re-
productive health.

Liase with members of RHR and other Departments of WHO involved in 
work related to health reforms as appropriate.

Liase with other UN agencies (e.g., World Bank, Asia Development 
Bank, UNFPA) and relevant bilateral donors and other international 
and non-government organizations as necessary.

Document findings and disseminate results through the drafting of 
technical reports and scientific articles providing comparative 
analysis from country case studies and other descriptive and prospec-
tive studies so as to provide guidance to countries in formulating 
health reform policies and strategies to improve reproductive health.

In addition to the primary functions listed above, this individual 
will play a lead role in the Department's work investigating issues 
related to the intersection between reproductive health and poverty, 
with a special focus on elucidating whether improvements in reproduc-
tive health lead to an alleviation of poverty.

Qualifications and Experience

Advanced degree in economics, political science or public health re-
quired; a combination of postgraduate degrees in economics, political 
science and public health preferred. This individual should have a 
minimum of seven years of relevant work experience, including three 
years of developing country experience. Excellent writing abilities 
and strong analytical skills are essential. Previous working experi-
ence and in-depth knowledge of health reform programmes and/or repro-
ductive health programmes with knowledge of the other are required. 
The applicant should have strong interpersonal and cross-cultural 
skills, with the ability, sensitivity and tact to collaborate effec-
tively with developing country policy-makers, programme managers, 
scientists and service providers and the capacity to work success-
fully in team environment. Excellent knowledge of English. Working 
knowledge of French or Spanish would be an advantage.

Applications

Applications, including full curriculum vitae, list of publications 
and the names and contact information for three references by 14 De-
cember 2001 to:

Mrs Ruth Malaguti
Department of Reproductive Health and Research
World Health Organization
1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel: +41-22-791-3114
Fax: +41-22-791-4171
mailto:malagutir@who.int

It is hoped that the successful candidate will be available to start 
work in February 2002.

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