Consultant - National Health Insurance Scheme at World Health Organization (WHO)

World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Consultant to Support the National Health Insurance Scheme in the Design of the Health Insurance Under One Roof Framework towards the achievement of UHC in Nigeria

Job ID: 2001505
Location: Nigeria
Schedule: Full-time
Grade: No grade
Contract duration: 30 days
Contractual Arrangement: Individual service contractor

Objective

• To support the National Health Insurance Scheme in the Design of the Health Insurance Under One Roof Framework towards achievement of UHC in Nigeria.
• The NHIS is established by ACT 35 of 1999 (CAP N42, LFN 2004) and saddled with the responsibility of providing health insurance coverage for all Nigerians and all legal residents. The NHIS commenced operations in 2009 and has had single-digit coverage due to challenges which include; constitutional, operational difficulties and failure of states to buy-in.
• In order to encourage the states to buy-in into health insurance in the nation’s quest for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), NHIS decentralized the implementation of Health Insurance to the states in 2015. As a result of this strategic move, 34 States have already established functional health insurance and complementary schemes and are at different levels in the process of the implementation.
• Although the decentralization of health insurance was kick-started by the NHIS with support from key stakeholders, domestication was done by the states to fit their local peculiarities. This domestication which aligns with state priorities has resulted in variations in the design and operational modalities of the various schemes. There is a need to provide a common mechanism for coordinating and integrating these states schemes for efficiency and synergy while ensuring risk equalization across State pools.
• This makes a case for the health insurance under one roof, which is an innovative approach for effective coordination within the health insurance space in Nigeria. This is to avoid duplication of efforts, streamline the roles of NHIS and respective SSHIAs, ensure risk equalization across State pools, while delineating the functions of other stakeholders including the private sector towards population coverage on basic minimum package of health services.
• In light of the above, the NHIS has requested WHO to provide technical assistance towards achieving the above.

Scope of work
The Consultant will report to the Health Economist in WHO Nigeria. S/He will support the NHIS and SSHIS directly and in addition hold regular consultations with the relevant national and State institutions and key stakeholders. The consultant is expected to:

• Provide technical support to the NHIS in the development and expansion of the concept of HIUOR
• Conduct desk review and articulate relevant resource materials on the subject matter including good practices from other countries.
• Support stakeholder consultations and workshops for consensus building on HIUOR
• Articulate the resolutions arising from stakeholder consultations and desk into a single stakeholder owned blueprint for Health Insurance Under One Roof
• Provide support using a template for unity of command and direction for all actors involved in health insurance implementation in Nigeria
• Work with NHIS and relevant stakeholders to recommend strategies to overcome identified potential challenges in operationalizing HIUOR Blueprint
• Ensure that the Blueprint contains a template for financial and operational integration for health insurance in Nigeria
• Support production of draft HIUOR policy document for dissemination to the States

Specific Deliverables:

• Successful workshop (s) with the participation of relevant stakeholders
• Framework for coordination of all health insurance initiatives developed by consensus
• A set of indicators for the performance of NHIS and all SSHIA.
• Draft HIUOR National Policy document.

Required Skills, Qualifications, and Experience of Consultant
Mandatory:

• Advanced University degree (preferably PhD) in Medicine or related fields, Health Financing / Economics, Public Health, Social Sciences or Economics.
• At least 10 years’ experience and technical expertise in Health Financing, Public Health, Health Systems, Public Finance Management, health policy and strategy development, Strategic planning, monitoring and evaluating health systems
• Extensive Knowledge of Nigeria’s health system and health financing landscape including health insurance
• ICT Proficiency
• Demonstrated ability to provide sound methodological and technical advice and guidance to government and multiple stakeholders and partners in Nigeria
• Demonstrated ability to innovate, integrate, synthesize and communicate complex concepts and ideas verbally and in writing.

Asset:

• Performance of similar assignment with WHO will be an advantage.

Financial Implication of the Agreement

• If approved, the total contract value for this Agreement is N2, 500, 000 (Two million, five hundred naira only) which is a lump sum for the work to be carried out by the expert.

Application Closing Date
9th April, 2020.