National Consultant - Health Practitoner's Bill

..

National consultant on the development and review of health Practitioner’s Policy and Act

Area of expertise:

Review of Health Practitioners Policy and Act

Purpose of consultancy:

The primary purpose of this consultancy is to support the NDOH in developing a Health Practitioner’s Policy and reviewing the Health Practitioner’s Policy and Bill. The policy and act will aim at guiding health workers, regulating the practice, and safeguarding the public.

Background

Regulation of the health workforce and accreditation of educational institutions are intended to protect the public interest. The policy and law will consider the underrepresented health workforce cadres that address policy effectiveness and explore different models of regulation. Factors that affect the quality and health workforce sustainability include who is chosen to enter the field, what they are taught, how they are taught, how they are determined to be qualified to enter the field, how they maintain and update their skills, and how they are disciplined. Health workforce accreditation and regulation systems all shape the above.

Health professional regulatory processes have also been used to give effect to broader priorities related to equitable distribution, regional cooperation, dual practice, and compulsory service programs. As such, the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 emphasizes the importance of effective health personnel regulation to achieve universal health coverage, with an important role in both optimizing the existing health workforce and in aligning investments with the current and future health workforce needs.

Stress on accreditation and regulatory systems caused by surges in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, privatization of education, rising patient expectations, and emergence of new health worker categories has created urgency for the country to review the current policy law to guide the health workers.

Deliverables

The individual or consulting firm will work under the Technical Officer -Human Resources Health Systems and from time to time collaborate with the National Department of Health and all the regulatory authorities including the professional associations

Outputs 1: Health Practitioners' policy developed

Deliverable 1.1 Hold preliminary meetings with the NDoH Senior Executive Management (SEM) Team to confirm instructions and the scope of reforms and establish a Technical Working Group (TWG) within 5 days of signing the contract

Deliverable 1.2 Development of a detailed inception report with clear timelines and submission for approval to WHO and NDOH by 30th October 2023

Deliverable 1.3 A five-day workshop convened to develop the draft Health Practitioner’s Policy by the 15th of November 2023

Deliverable 1.4 Stakeholder consultative forum held to discuss the draft and finalize the policy by 30th Dec 2023

Output 2: Draft Health Practitioners Bill in readiness for presentation to the parliament

Deliverable 2.1 Consultative meetings held on the draft Bill for Health Practitioners with various cadre groups and their regulations and associations at the national level by 30th January 2024

Deliverable 2.2 Four regional consultative meetings held (Islands, Momase, Southern, Highlands by March 2024

Deliverable 2.3 Compilation of the draft bill by April 2024

Deliverable 2.4 Presentation of the Draft Bill to the Legislative Council for the first reading by July 2024

Qualifications, experience, skills, and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: A postgraduate degree in Law, public policy, or any other relevant social sciences

Desirable: a degree in public health or health management

Experience: At least 7 years working in health programs, legal and policy work at national levels, leading multi-government agency teams and in preparing high-quality documents, including writing reports or policy papers

Desirable: Working in the Pacific and specifically in the health sector; knowledgeable about the National Health Plan and National Health Service Standards.

Skills/knowledge

· Strong analytical, oral, and writing skills

· Demonstrated capacity to deliver high-quality outputs within the proposed timeframe

· Advanced writing and communication skills particularly for verbal presentations in meetings and events and written communication in the form of technical briefings, reports

· to complete tasks within the given time frame

Language and level required

· Expert level in English

Location

The consultant is expected to work in Port Moresby within the WHO Office and NDOH

Travel

The consultant may be required to travel domestically to the provinces for relevant consultations

Remuneration

Remuneration: Kina 17,450/month Living expenses: not applicable Expected duration of contract: maximum contract duration is 9 months

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.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits workforce regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.
• The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply for WHO jobs.
• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int
• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter (https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values) into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of short-listed candidates.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority.
• WHO shall have no responsibility for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at [email protected].
• In case the recruitment website does not display properly, please retry by: (1) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click this ling for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates