Consultant - National strategy strengthening primary health care

1. Area of expertise

To support the completion of the national strategy strengthening primary health care.

2. Purpose of consultancy

The purpose of this consultation is to Mobilize a technical expertise to support the finalization of the national strategy strengthening primary health care and the development of two to three PHC regional action plans.

3. Background

Following the adoption of Astana Declaration (October 2018), in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration, the international community reaffirmed its commitment to primary health care (PHC) as an essential step towards universal health coverage. Moreover, since the health crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is currently having an important global scale, requires preparation and a holistic response highlighting the essential role of PHC within the health system, in particular through maintaining the continuity of essential health benefits and services.

At the national level, the high-level commitment to primary health care demonstrates Morocco's willingness to invest more in strengthening PHC in order to advance towards universal health coverage and to achieve the sustainable development goals in the country by 2030.

In this sense, the High Royal orientations have given a new dynamic of strengthening PHC; the Royal speech addressed to the participants in the World Health Day celebration in April 2019, in which His Majesty insisted on the importance of reforming Primary Health Care: “We underline the need to initiate a new dynamic to overcome the different obstacles and constraints. Improving the primary health care system should be one of the major pillars of this dynamic, along with the commitment to progress towards achieving universal health coverage by 2030. ".

Thus, the Ministry of Health organized the national forum on primary health care (December 2019), under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, and with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. This large-scale event is a key step in the quest to strengthen PHC as far as it allowed to discuss the achievements, challenges, and development prospects of primary health care in Morocco, within the framework of an integrated vision for the reform of the national health system

In addition, the implementation of the initiative to measure and improve primary health care (PHCMI), launched in August 2019 by the WHO-EMRO, made it possible to carry out a holistic and systemic assessment of PHC performance.

The strengthening of PHC is based on the development of a national strategy with components at the regional level through regional action plans, taking into account the results of the PHCMI assessment and which also incorporates national and international recommendations related to PHC reform (Translate Astana's vision into action, Concretize the recommendations of the National Forum on PHC, imperatives of the new development model, etc.). And on the other hand, by aligning itself with the structuring projects initiated by the Ministry of Health with a view to the overall reform of the health system, among others, the dynamics of taking into account the regional and local dimensions related to the hospital network, through the development of regional medical program and continuity of care and services at the level of primary care facilities.

4. The terms of reference are to

1. Facilitate and conduct the validation workshops of the national primary health care strategy
2. Finalize the national strategy for strengthening PHC based on the workshop recommendations,
3. Support two to three pilot regions on developing there PHC regions actions plans
4. conduct and facilitate the design and validation workshops of the development of the PHC regional action for two to three pilot regions.
5. Comment and finalize the deliverables of the two or three PHC regions’ actions plans.

Output

• Deliverable n ° 1: Detailed methodological note including the planning of the mission and a provisional schedule of deliverables.
• Deliverable n ° 2: The national strategy for strengthening PHC finalized and validated
• Deliverable n ° 3: Mission report including the report of the national workshop for the validation of the PHC strategy as well as the reports of the missions for the development of the two to three PHC regional action plans.

5. Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational:

Essential: Master’s degree in public health.

Desirable:

Experience

Essential: At least 7 years’ experience in the design of similar policies and strategies with proven solid experience in the field of PHC.

Desirable:

Skills/Knowledge:

• Understanding the context and the national health system.
• Excellent skills in conducting workshops

Languages and level required:

• Excellent command of the French language.

6. Location

The Consultant expected to perform her/his work in Morocco, Rabat.

1. Remuneration: International consultant at level “B”

2. Expected duration of contract: 4 months

3. Medical clearance

The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

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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